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Languages Tuesday, August 3, 2021 IPS on Twitter IPS on Facebook RSS feed INTER PRESS SERVICE News Agency News and Views from the Global South Africa Asia-Pacific Europe Latin America & the Caribbean Middle East & North Africa North America Global Home Development & Aid Aid Education Energy Health Food & Agriculture Humanitarian Emergencies Poverty & SDGs Population Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Green Economy Labour Natural Resources Trade & Investment Cooperatives Environment Advancing Deserts Biodiversity Climate Change Green Economy Water & Sanitation Human Rights Armed Conflicts Crime & Justice Democracy Indigenous Rights LGBTQ Migration & Refugees Press Freedom Religion Global Governance Civilisations Find Alliances Eye on the IFIs Global Geopolitics Globalisation Peace South-South United Nations South-South G77 Regional Alliances Southern Aid & Trade Civil Society Active Citizens World Social Forum Conferences Gender Gender Violence Women & Economy Women & Climate Change Women’s Health Gender Identity Women in Politics Crime & Justice, Democracy, Europe, Europe, Featured, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, Press Freedom, TerraViva United Nations Press Freedom Daphne Caruana Galizia’s Family Hope ‘Lessons are Learnt’ to Protect Investigative Journalists By Ed Holt Reprint | | Print | Send by email Flowers, candles and tributes to Daphne Caruana Galizia left at the foot of the Great Siege Monument, opposite the Law Courts in Valletta. Caruana Galizia, Malta’s most prominent investigative journalist, was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 outside her home in the village of Bidnija. Courtesy: Continentaleurope/CC BY-SA 4.0

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Aug 3 2021 (IPS)

BRATISLAVA, August 2 (IPS) – The family of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has called for “lessons to be learnt” after an independent inquiry found that the Maltese state bore responsibility for her death.

Caruana Galizia, Malta’s most prominent investigative journalist, was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 outside her home in the village of Bidnija. Her investigations had exposed high-level government corruption linked to businesses.

The inquiry findings into the killing released last week delivered a damning verdict of the state’s role in her murder.

In a 457-page report, the inquiry panel of one serving and two retired judges, said that her death had been preventable, and that responsibility lay with the state for creating “an atmosphere of impunity… which led to the collapse of the rule of law”.

Summing up their findings, they said: “….acts, certainly illicit if not illegal, were committed by persons within State entities that created an environment that facilitated the assassination. This even by failing to do their duty to act promptly and effectively to give proper protection to the journalist.”

Andrew Caruana Galizia, Daphne’s son, told IPS: “The findings of the report are an enormous vindication for us, although it is painful to see it recognised that my mother’s death could have been prevented.

“But what is most important is that lessons be learnt from these findings and to make sure that no journalist in Malta will suffer the same fate as my mother.”

Daphne Caruana Galizia Credit: https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/dsc_8970bw/

Caruana Galizia’s murder made headlines worldwide, focusing attention on the rule of law in Malta and journalist safety and highlighting the murky links between Maltese politicians and big business, which she was investigating.

Prosecutors claim local businessman Yorgen Fenech, who had close links to senior government officials, masterminded the murder. Fenech, one of two men awaiting trial on charges of involvement in the murder, denies responsibility.

The Prime Minister at the time of her killing, Josef Muscat, was also eventually forced to resign after investigations implicated close contacts of his in the killing.

The inquiry highlighted alleged links between the Maltese government and criminals and how that encouraged the killers. The inquiry’s report stated that: “What is impressive in this case is the severity and extent of this impunity at the highest levels which made those who committed the crime feel safe in doing so.

“Another shocking factor was the fact that all the institutions in the country failed to react appropriately and effectively to counteract this impunity as they were duty-bound to do, a shortcoming which can be attributed precisely to the ties which were exploited between those in power and those who advanced their dubious interests.”

And it called for steps to be taken immediately to bring in checks on ties between politicians and big business.

It also recommended a series of measures be implemented to increase journalism safety.

Press freedom watchdogs, who, along with Caruana Galizia’s family and international groups, had campaigned for years for an independent investigation into the killing, said it was vital action was taken to create a safer environment for journalists to work.

Jamie Wiseman, Europe Advocacy Officer at the International Press Institute (IPI), told IPS: “It is crucial that steps are taken to improve the environment for the safety of journalists, including the introduction of legislation criminalising violence against journalists, condemnation by state officials of all attacks against media workers, and the establishment of a journalist safety committee composed of government officials, media representatives, civil society and the security services.

“Serious implementation of these changes would go a long way to ensuring the tragic killing of a journalist never occurs again in Malta.”

But groups like IPI are hoping the inquiry and its findings will also have an effect beyond just journalists and journalism in Malta.

Caruana Galizia’s assassination drew almost unprecedented international attention in part because it took place in an EU country.

At the time, Europe was seen as one of the safest places for journalists to work in the world.

Since then, there have been other prominent killings of journalists in the EU, including that of Jan Kuciak in Slovakia just a few months after Caruana Galizia was murdered, and in the last few months Giorgos Karaivaz in Greece, and Peter de Vries in the Netherlands.

Fears have been raised about growing violence against journalists in Europe, stoked by aggressive rhetoric and clampdowns on media freedom by populist leaders in many countries, including Hungary, Poland, and Serbia.

In the case of Kuciak’s murder specifically, press freedom and rights organisations said repeated verbal attacks and denigration of journalists may have emboldened the killers.

Rob Mahoney, Deputy Executive Director at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said the inquiry’s findings would send out a message to those who believe they can kill, threaten, and attempt to silence journalists with impunity.

“It is a very important first step on the road to ending a poisonous culture of impunity, particularly in the European Union. Journalists need the rule of law and an independent judiciary to fulfil their function of providing information to citizens in a democracy. This inquiry underscores that.

“I hope it will show the public how without brave investigative journalists, crime and corruption at the highest levels of government and business will run rampant.”

Andrew Caruana Galizia added: “One tragic finding from the inquiry was that it confirmed that at the time of my mother’s death, Malta was in the process of being taken over by mafia organisations, and that the only thing that stopped that happening was the death of my mother and the people demanding change after that.

“There is similar corruption and state capture by criminal groups in other parts of Europe, so what is happening here could send a message to other countries [where a similar process might be underway].”

Meanwhile, press freedom groups point out that while the inquiry’s findings have confirmed much of what they have said for years was linked to Daphne’s death, such as issues around the rule of law and the creation of an environment that allowed a journalist to be killed, they, and her family, are still waiting for full justice for her murder to be served.

So far, only one person has been sentenced in connection with the killing – earlier this year, a man pleaded guilty to taking part and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Rebecca Vincent, Director of International Campaigns at Reporters Without Borders, told IPS: “What must be remembered is that this is separate from the criminal investigation and the people behind Daphne’s killing need to be brought to full justice. The inquiry is a crucial step towards justice – but it is just a step.”

 

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An expected drop in greenhouse gas emissions linked to the global economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is only “short-term good news”, the head of the UN weather agency said in April 2020. Credit: World Meteorological Organization /Kabelo Tamocha

By Sabrina Zwick
TOKYO, Aug 3 2021 (IPS)

Work, education, entertainment, or simply better connectivity all draw people to cities. By the end of this century around 85% of the world population are predicted to live in cities.

There are speculations that the COVID-19 pandemic will slow down this urbanisation trend, but I think it’s unlikely to stop it.

Cities remain the primary location for job opportunities, education and cultural offers, and the continued rise in housing prices in many European cities over the past year indicates that city life is still high in demand.

Some find this trend worrying, as – globally – urbanisation has worsened the climate crisis, and cities are often blamed for boosting energy consumption and carbon emissions.

The World Bank estimates that 80% of global GDP is produced in urban areas. This results in higher income, consumption and associated levels of emissions.

It is certain that a considerable share of the global carbon budget will be used up for building new infrastructure, particularly in fast-growing cities. Further emissions take place when cities expand and land use changes – turning vegetation into city grounds.

Sabrina Zwick

On the other hand, cities cover only about 3% of the global land surface while, at present, accounting for 58% of the world’s population. This compact structure can render emission savings linked to higher densities, connectivity, accessibility and land use.

Copenhagen and Amsterdam, for instance, are great examples of cities that make good use of these compact structures and offer a low emission lifestyle.

What’s better for the climate?

Rural homes are surrounded by nature, but are often larger than urban houses or apartments and people who live in them require cars to get around. City homes are usually smaller and offer short distances, but also a world of shiny consumption goods, takeaway food and entertainment options – at least in non-COVID times.

But what does this mean for individual carbon footprints: are they bigger in the city or in the countryside, if the income level is similar?

To answer this question, my colleague Pablo Munoz and I looked at the consumption patterns of more than 8,000 households in Austria. We clustered them into urban, semi-urban and rural areas, estimated their carbon footprints, and found that people in urban areas, on average, had the smallest carbon footprints.

People in semi-urban areas had the biggest carbon footprints, with those in rural areas in between.

The main difference we found is that the city dwellers we analysed had lower direct emissions from transport, heating and cooking. They did have more indirect emissions, that is, emissions released upstream in the production chain – by factories producing TVs for example.

But in total, we found that the emissions of urban dwellers were still comparatively low. Even when controlling for other socioeconomic factors including income, we found that people in semi-urban areas in Austria emit around 8% more CO₂ than those in cities, and people in rural areas around 4% more.

This evidence that a city lifestyle is the least carbon intense in Austria is replicated by other studies for high-income countries in Europe (such as the UK and Finland).

But it doesn’t mean that it applies to everywhere: research shows that urbanisation in low-income countries usually increases emissions.

This isn’t to say we should discourage urbanisation in these countries. One of the principle reasons for this pattern is the income gap between urban and rural areas in these countries: higher urban incomes lead to more consumption and resulting emissions.

In high-income countries on the other hand, the urban-rural income gap is much smaller as consumption levels are high everywhere. So, in countries such as Austria or the UK, living in cities tends to be better for the climate, as dense living can reduce transport and heating emissions.

Curse or cure

Does this mean that urbanisation is good or bad on the long run? There is no simple answer to this. The link between urbanisation and income, to take just one factor, is very complex.

Globally, we know that urbanisation has been a driver for higher emissions. But results like ours give hope that city life is the sustainable option after all, at least once countries reach a certain income level and when doing it right.

Key to this is a strong commitment to climate action and implementing it fast. Governments around the globe should make best use of high densities, connectivity, accessibility and land in urban areas – and plan cities and their surroundings in a smart and climate friendly way.

But efforts should not be limited to cities, given that semi-urban areas are the worst for emissions. This is especially true in light of increasing housing prices in cities and a post-COVID digitalised world, which make suburbs increasingly attractive for many of us.

Ways to decrease emissions are numerous: good public transport systems and bicycle routes, short distances to basic infrastructure, efficient buildings, and green heating and cooling systems are all proven ways of cutting carbon costs.

In addition, carbon pricing can create incentives for greener value chains and more sustainable consumption. When planning land use, rural-urban migration trends and other behavioural aspects should be taken into account.

The way urban and rural areas are designed will affect people’s choices – such as their preferred mode of transport – and associated emissions.

But ultimately, we as individuals determine our own consumption patterns and our carbon footprint can be large or small, whether we live in the city or elsewhere.

This work was partially supported by the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP) of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund through the project “Innovative climate policy instruments to reduce consumption-based emissions to complement territorial emission reduction efforts”.

 

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Excerpt:

The writer is Research Associate at United Nations University

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 2021 (IPS)

Hopes for an inclusive global economic recovery are fast fading. As rich countries have done little to ensure poor countries’ access to vaccines and fiscal resources, North-South “fault lines” will certainly widen.

Enhancing relief, recovery, transformation
While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised rich countries’ recovery prospects upward, the United Nations (UN) notes formidable challenges, especially for developing countries, due to the pandemic.

Anis Chowdhury

The UN warns of more setbacks for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), already behind schedule before the pandemic. Grim recovery prospects have been worsened by debt distress and dramatic drops in investment and trade.

Designing appropriate relief, recovery and reforms well is necessary. For the IMF, growth-enhancing reforms could significantly improve growth in emerging market and developing economies over the next decade.

Countries must quickly spend much more to contain the pandemic and offset adverse effects of policy responses. This is needed to protect incomes, jobs and businesses, while paying more attention to the most vulnerable. Also, the SDGs still need more financing.

Policy choices now will determine chances of a greener, more inclusive and resilient future. There have to be better synergies among short, medium and long-term policies through improved coordination.

Macroeconomic policy coordination
Although public debt is already high while tax revenue has shrunk, governments need to spend more. Central banks (CBs) must lend more to governments to create more fiscal space. Better monetary policy support for government spending should strengthen relief, recovery and reform, not enable more corporate debt and asset price bubbles.

In turn, fiscal authorities can create monetary policy space by enabling spending on nationally produced goods and services, investing in productive capabilities, enabling new jobs and occupations, and expanding social protection. Policy design should ensure that more liquidity does not generate excessive inflationary pressures or net imports.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Greater CB independence in recent decades has undermined macroeconomic policy coordination, preventing them from lending directly to governments. Keeping inflation low has become paramount, ignoring other policy goals. Supposedly for CB and monetary policy credibility, such priorities actually serve financial investors, especially speculators.

But with ‘unconventional monetary policies’ after the 2008 global financial crisis, CB lending to governments has become more acceptable. Many rich country governments have since turned to CBs for fiscal space and other finance.

With little affordable finance available from both private and official sources, some developing countries, such as Indonesia, have temporarily suspended laws preventing direct borrowing from CBs. Others, e.g., the Philippines, have amended legislation to allow CBs to directly lend to governments.

Thus, how countries emerge from recessions in the short-term, and transform their economies to achieve progress in the longer term, critically depends on effective cooperation between CBs and governments.

Central banks’ developmental role
Historically, CBs have played a developmental role, e.g., financing public investment. Even though many CB statutes are not explicit about such roles, the two oldest CBs – the Bank of England and Sweden’s Riksbank – are not prohibited from vigorously promoting policy priorities, e.g., the latter’s commitment to housing for all.

The Bank of England has even pioneered creating specialised development institutions, e.g., the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, the Finance Corporation for Industry, and the Bankers’ Industrial Development Company.

The US Federal Reserve Act is committed to realise “the economy’s long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates…in furtherance of the purposes of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1948.”

CBs of Italy, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands have used various means to finance activities underserved by credit markets. These include lowering bank reserve requirements and lending for priorities such as housing, agriculture, exports, small business and underdeveloped regions.

Well before independence, the Reserve Bank of India observed, “it may be desirable for Central Bank credit to be made available in a larger number of ways and with less restrictions”. Hence, development objectives are explicit in many developing countries’ CB statutes.

The statutes of some CBs established in the 1970s and 1980s with IMF technical assistance also have specific provisions for developmental roles, e.g., in Bhutan, Botswana, Fiji, Maldives, Solomon Islands, Swaziland and Vanuatu.

This is consistent with IMF Article of Agreement IV, “each member shall endeavor to direct its economic and financial policies toward the objective of fostering orderly economic growth with reasonable price stability, with due regard to its circumstances”.

The Bangladesh CB, a financial inclusion pioneer, also adopted a sustainable finance policy in 2011 to promote green investment and sustainable agriculture. Ninety developing country CBs have since signed the Maya Declaration to advance financial inclusion.

Supporting transformation
Borrowing to finance recovery and reform has to promote desirable changes, creating new productive capacities, accelerating digitalisation, revitalising rural and regional economies, conducting business and work in new ways, and making economies more sustainable.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has aligned ‘quantitative easing’ with the European Commission (EC)’s pandemic response. By indicating it would buy newly issued government bonds in the secondary market, the ECB has effectively financed government borrowing despite the ban on directly lending to the government.

Thus, considerable ECB purchase of government bonds has lowered borrowing costs for member States’ pandemic responses. These include the EC’s Next Generation package, including the European Green Deal and its ‘digitalization transition’.

The Bank of Japan is also supporting government efforts for relief, recovery, economic growth, structural change, disaster management and global warming mitigation. It is also encouraging companies to invest in digitalisation and green technologies.

The South Korean CB has also purchased more government bonds. Several measures have provided monetary support for the ‘Korean New Deal’, including pandemic relief, recovery, digital and green investments, and employment safety nets.

China’s CB’s targeted monetary policy tools are also increasingly aligned with the government’s long-term strategic goals. These include supporting key sectors while preventing asset price bubbles and ‘overheating’.

Bolder actions needed
Over the last year, poorer countries have been condemned to protracted recessions and delayed recoveries. Vaccine imperialism and apartheid mean that their vaccination efforts will be delayed and limited, if not worse.

Extended slowdowns not only threaten to become depressions, but also to further set back the modest progress achieved in recent decades. The North-South gap between rich and poor countries is certain to grow again.

Recovery prospects have been set back by poor countries’ lack of ‘fiscal space’. The IMF must help them use monetary policy much more creatively, not only to enhance fiscal space, but also to complement other policies for relief, recovery and transformation.

 

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By Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
SINGAPORE, Aug 2 2021 (IPS)

It had been four long months since the meeting in Alaska between Chinese and American officials, their first interaction since President Joe Biden assumed office in January this year. That was when the Chinese Foreign policy top mandarins Yang Jiechi (Director, Central Foreign Affairs Commission) and Wang Yi (State Councillor and Foreign Minister) bitterly locked horns with the American top diplomats, Antony Blinken (Secretary of State) and Jake Sullivan (National Security Advisor) in Anchorage in intensely chilly circumstances. Bilateral relations remained pretty much frozen since. Both sides might have come around to the belief that a resumption of some level of contact was overdue. Not so much to bring about a thaw; rather, simply to test the water.

Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury

The possibility of a meeting between the two Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden began to surface when it became known both would be in Rome to attend a Group of 20 Summit. But that would require preparations. The Biden Administration, believing it had taken enough of a tough stance against China to placate the right side of America’s political divide, chose to make the first move. It asked for Chinese acceptance of a visit to Beijing at a level, neither too high nor too low, which they believed was the case with the position of Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State. The Chinese deeply unhappy with not just the content of talks at Anchorage but also with the quality of hospitality accorded the visitors, were now ready to pay back in kind.

The tool used was something that has historically been done in situations warranting subtle messaging, a skill at which the Chinese are past masters. That is the use of the rules of protocol as a peace-time weapon. After some show of hesitation, Beijing agreed to the visit but presented a lower ranking Chinese official as the appropriate counterpart, denying access to either Wang Yi or Yang Jiechi, which the Americans insisted upon. Eventually the access was provided, though formally , and optically, the main meeting was going to be with a lower-ranking Vice Foreign Minister, Xie Feng. What was going to take place with Wang Yi was a “call”. In traditional diplomatic protocol a visiting dignitary can always “call on“ higher ranking hosts, but not negotiate, which is normally done with appropriate counterparts. So, the Chinese were not offering any extra privilege, but were nonetheless raising Cain over it just to make a point. By resorting to this method China was wanting to put the US in its place, at the same time derive the necessary benefits from the visit which was an unavoidable preparatory step to the long-awaited Summit of the leaders. In that, at least for now, both sides appear to see merit.

There was to be a further tit for tat. Since the Chinese high officials were not received last April at the US capital, Washington DC, as they would have liked, Deputy Secretary Adams had to remain content with her programme taking place in Tianjin, located 100km south-east of Beijing. What was publicly stated was that Beijing had very strict rules related to Covid prevention that would impede the visit. Both sides seemed to accept the fact that a nuanced, but necessary under the circumstances, diplomatic minuet was being danced out, and both must have heaved a sigh of relief when this parrying ended, and the meetings could finally take place. The official photo of the call on Foreign Minister Wang Yi showed he and Wendy Sherman seated a fair distance apart, speaking to each other via microphones, amplifying not just the sound but also the political distance!

Prior to the meeting, Wang Yi stated in a tone that was a tad ominous: “If the US has not learnt how to deal with other countries on an equal footing, then we have the responsibility to work with the international community to teach the US a lesson”. By now, everyone was expecting the discussions to be tough, which they were. The Chinese set out three red lines for the US: One, China’s political system must not be challenged; two, China’s development must not be interrupted; and, three, China’s sovereignty issues such as matters in Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan must not be interfered with. Demonstrating considerable political acumen, Sherman avoided direct confrontation, making the point that the US goal was to set up “guardrails” to prevent competition from turning into conflicts. A state Department readout of the talks, which seemed to assume a slightly conciliatory tone, said that she had affirmed the importance of cooperation in areas of global interest including climate change, drug trafficking and weapons proliferation.

No one really expected the trip to make any substantive progress in terms of Sino-US bilateral relations, as was the case. The best outcome of the visit was that it took place at all! It simply marked a resumption of bilateral contacts, and nothing more. Also, it has managed to keep alive a glimmer of hope that the Xi-Biden summit could still happen as both sides seemed not to be unfavourably disposed towards the idea. The obtaining situation does not warrant any optimism for improved ties. Biden faces domestic pressures not to appear to be “soft” on China if he wants the Congress to approve his proposed legislations, which he does. Xi may not have similar constraints, but he does have an international gallery to play to, to which he is bent on demonstrating that China can outperform the US.

Just as the world is learning to live with the Covid pandemic, so must it learn to live with the burgeoning Sino-US rivalry. The rising Chinese dragon is no longer demure but is increasingly, and unabashedly demanding. At the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi declared that his people “will never allow foreign forces to bully, coerce, and enslave us”. If there are to be headwinds, China is preparing to rise like a kite against it. Dominant Western powers, particularly the US are unlikely to be obliging, as the increased pace of American diplomacy in East Asia shows. Nonetheless, it is all but certain that a paradigm shift in powerplay across the globe is already in progress, and it is bound to make for an unstable world.

This story was originally published by Dhaka Courier.

 

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The World Health Organization (WHO) says that tobacco use claims about eight million lives a year. Credit: WHO

By Hana Ross and Sophapan Ratanachena-McWhortor
CAPETOWN / BANGKOK, Aug 2 2021 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on millions of families and damaged the economy of countries around the globe.

Rich countries with higher vaccination rates have opened up their economy ahead of poor countries that are still struggling to fight the pandemic.

Yet, there is a simple recipe to boost the population’s health and increase revenue to pay for vaccines and economic recovery. This simple recipe calls for just one ingredient – the implementation of evidence-based tobacco tax policy.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tax and price measures are the most effective means to reduce the demand for tobacco which in in turn will save lives, reduce government expenditures on healthcare, and increase tax revenue.

Smoking is now a recognized risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes. Therefore, countries with high smoking prevalence such as Indonesia and Vietnam are quite vulnerable during the pandemic.

Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) struggle to reduce their persistently high level of tobacco use while spending a significant amount of their healthcare budget on tobacco-related diseases.

These preventable expenditures along with pandemic-related expenses are putting the Ministries of Finance in a quandary.

ASEAN countries are lagging behind in terms of using tobacco taxes to curb tobacco use even though some countries like the Philippines have made significant progress in recent years.

Most ASEAN countries lack a long-term tax policy plan and neither review nor update their policies according to their fiscal and public health targets. The main obstacles to effective tobacco tax policies include complex tax structures, small tax changes that fail to decrease affordability of tobacco use, and weak tax administration.

Credit: Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA)

These obstacles are perpetuated by the tobacco industry’s interference. Transnational tobacco companies routinely target LMICs to increase their profits and made special efforts to ensure that their customers kept smoking throughout the pandemic.

In the ASEAN region, home to 122 million smokers, the tobacco industry is thwarting tax increases to keep cigarette prices low, obtaining delays in paying taxes, offering promotions to customers and providing charitable contributions to resource-starved governments to earn political favors.

A 2020 survey by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) in seven countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) revealed tobacco industry interference to be one of the key obstacles in achieving higher excise tax revenue across the region.

The industry publicizes exaggerated illicit trade data, falsely predicts economic disasters, and co-opts high profile allies to discourage tax increases. Policymakers and politicians need to be aware of these industry efforts and protect the public interest from industry interference.

A recent SEATCA study in four ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam) revealed that governments are missing out on collecting a substantial amount of tobacco tax revenue as a result of failure to raise tobacco taxes to recommended levels, simplify complex tax structures, and/or remove tax benefits to tobacco companies.

The study highlighted that 1.3 million premature deaths could have been prevented and an additional USD 4.81 billion tax revenue could have been collected in the last two years had their governments implemented effective tobacco tax policy.

Lao PDR is also missing out on tax revenue due to an unfair joint venture between the government and cigarette manufacturers which resulted in the tobacco companies not paying their fair share of tax and their refusal to provide their mandatory contribution to the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) established seven years ago.

As a result, the Lao government has lost excise tax revenue in excess of USD 142.9 million from 2002-2019 and TCF revenue of USD 18 million from 2014 – 2019.

Tobacco tax policy is a low-cost tool that governments can use to achieve sustainable revenue for health and social development. This could greatly help during the pandemic to pay for vaccinations and therapeutics in the fight against COVID-19.

LMICs in search of revenue to balance their pandemic-related financial and economic losses should prioritize tobacco tax policy as a public health intervention, because it has the potential of both saving lives and generating substantial revenue.

Dr Hana Ross is the Principal Research Officer of Research on Economics for Excisable Products (REEP), at the University of Cape Town, South Africa & Sophapan Ratanachena-McWhortor is the Tobacco Tax Program Manager for SEATCA

 

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Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 2 2021 (IPS)

Ed Koch, a sharp-tongued Mayor of New York city (1978-89), once stopped short of using a four-letter word to denounce the United Nations.

Instead, he opted for a five-letter word dismissing the UN as a “sewer” relegating it to the lower depths of degradation.

In a bygone era, some of the most vociferous rightwing, conservative US politicians never ceased to denounce the world body primarily because of a rash of UN resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations in the occupied territories or for resolutions mis-perceived as anti-American.

The late Senator Jesse Helms, a Republican chairman of the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, once said “providing funds to the UN was like pouring money into a rat hole.”

“I disagree with the premises upon which the United Nations is built and with the illusion that it propagates,” Senator Helms, said in a letter to the World Federalist Association. “It would be one thing if the United Nations were just an international side show, but it plays a greater role. It is a vast engine for the promotion of socialism, and to promote this purpose the U.S. provides a quarter of its budget,” he said.

Helms, said he has long called for “our country’s departure from this Organization, and vice versa.”

Charles Lichtenstein, a former U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Mission, once said he would urge members of the United Nations to move out of New York if they did not like the treatment they were receiving in the United States.

Helms — with tongue firmly entrenched in cheek — said he would join Lichtenstein in waving goodbye to U.N. member- states “as they sail away into the sunset.”

When the 193-member UN General Assembly elected some of the so-called “repressive regimes” as members of the Human Rights Commission (later the Human Rights Council), Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California) hollered: “The inmates have taken over the asylum. And I don’t plan to give the lunatics any more American tax dollars to play with.”

And more recently, former President Donald Trump not only decried multilateralism and challenged the effectiveness of the world body but also dismissed it as “a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.”

Trump pulled out of two historic international agreements: the Paris climate change agreement and the nuclear deal with Iran.

But things have dramatically changed since he was ousted from the White House— and the US is gradually returning to the UN, whose primary home is New York, even though most of its agencies are based outside the US, including in Geneva, Rome, Vienna, Paris, Bonn and Nairobi.

The administration of President Joe Biden, which took over from the Trump administration about six months ago, has not only returned to multilateralism but has also pledged to re-engage both with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.

Additionally, the US has agreed to restore funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), both of which suffered funding cuts under Trump.

Last April, the Biden’s administration said it plans to provide $235 million to Palestinians, restoring part of the assistance cut by Trump. Two-thirds will go to UNRWA, which has suffered a financial crisis since it lost $360 million of US funding in 2018.

In 2016, UNFPA received $69 million in funding from the U.S. And in July 2019, UNFPA expressed concerns over US withholding funds for the third consecutive year The Biden administration is expected to restore US funding.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, accompanied by his grand-daughter, signs the Paris Agreement at UN headquarters in April 2016. Credit: UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner for International Affairs at the Office of the New York city Mayor Bill de Blasio, welcomed the move by the United Nations to gradually return to near-normal after a 16-month pandemic lock down.

She said “the UN General Assembly has for decades been a staple of Fall in New York and as Host City to the UN, we have always been proud to welcome the international community who gather here”.

Kul Gautam, a former UN assistant secretary-general, told IPS the whole world, including the United Nations, breathed a sigh of relief at the advent of the Joe Biden administration in the US, following four years of the erratic and unpredictable Donald Trump presidency.

Mirroring Trump’s “America First” bravado, his senior diplomatic team, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador Niki Haley showed little regard or diplomatic finesse in dealing with the complex issues high on the UN’s agenda, he pointed out.

Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton had so little respect for the UN that as the US Ambassador to the UN, he had once proclaimed that if the UN Secretariat building in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference,” said Gautam, a former deputy executive director of the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

Similarly, his Trump-era successor Niki Haley told a Republican National Convention that the “UN was a place where dictators, murderers and thieves denounce America, and demand that we pay their bills.”

Gautam said in contrast to the Trump-era narrative of the UN being a largely bureaucratic and profligate anti-American organization, dominated by China and Third World countries, the Biden administration quickly proclaimed that “America was back” at the UN and would provide constructive leadership and support a multilateral approach to solving the world’s most pressing issues from COVID-19 to climate change.

Not only is Joe Biden himself a seasoned statesman in international affairs, said Gautam, but his senior aides, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Special Envoy John Kerry are all consummate diplomats who believe in multilateralism.

Mandeep S. Tiwana, Chief Programmes Officer at CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs) , told IPS the United States played a key role in establishing the UN Charter who’s opening words, ‘We the Peoples’, mirror the opening words of the US Constitution. Eleanor Roosevelt stewarded the drafting of what is arguably the UN’s finest achievement – adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“The Trump administration’s disdain for the UN devalued these historical achievements. Traditionally, the United States has been a supporter of rights and democratic values at the UN as core pillars of its foreign policy,” he said.

The Biden administration’s commitment to re-engage at the UN is being welcomed by many in civil society working to challenge discrimination and oppression, he said, pointing out, that it’s a step in the right direction for people-centered multilateralism which lies at the core of the UN’s founding.

Tiwana also said the Biden administration has an opportunity not just to repair the damage of the Trump years but to demonstrate commitment to laying the ground work for the ambitious advancement of justice, equality and sustainability for future generations.

Gautam said while Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was severely constrained from taking some bold initiatives during his first term due to fear of the veto-wielding and chest-thumping Trump administration’s non-cooperation, he should, in his second term, feel more empowered to act more decisively to push for the kind of bold vision he outlined in July 2020 in his Nelson Mandela Lecture: “Tackling the Inequality Pandemic: A New Social Contract for a New Era”.

The early and quick gestures of the Biden administration rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, funding for UNFPA and COVAX and paying outstanding US arrears to the UN peace-keeping budget are all encouraging signs, he noted.

“The ball is now in Guterres’ —and his senior management team’s– court to harness the potential of the Biden administration’s goodwill to assert UN’s proactive role to help tackle the most pressing global challenges of our times”, said Gautam, author of “Global Citizen from Gulmi: My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of the United Nations” (Nepalaya Publications 2018)

Thalif Deen, Senior Editor and Director at the UN Bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment -– and Don’t Quote Me on That.” Peppered with scores of anecdotes-– from the serious to the hilarious-– the book is available on Amazon worldwide. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

 

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More than 200 million people depend in some way on small-scale fisheries. Ending harmful fishery subsidies would give industrially overfished stocks an opportunity to bounce back. Credit: Christopher Pala/IPS

By Fermín Koop
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 2 2021 (IPS)

After more than 20 years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has moved a step closer to an agreement on ending harmful fishing subsidies. The deal would set new rules for the global fishing industry and limit government funding that contributes to unsustainable fishing and the depletion of global fish stocks.

In a meeting with government ministers and heads of national delegations, WTO members vowed to finish the negotiations before the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) in late November, and to empower their delegations in Geneva to do so. Members also said the negotiating text currently on the table can be used as the basis to strike a final agreement.

Eliminating all harmful subsidies could help fish populations recover. Specifically, it would result in an increase of 12.5% in global fish biomass by 2050, which translates into nearly 35 million metric tonnes of fish – almost three times Africa’s entire fish consumption in a single year

“It’s been a successful day,” WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told reporters at the close of the meeting. “In 20 years of negotiations, this is the closest we have ever come towards reaching an outcome – a high-quality outcome that would contribute to building a sustainable blue economy. I feel new hope.”

The talks’ chair, Santiago Wills, was also upbeat: “I believe that the answers today have given us the ingredients to reach a successful conclusion. Members now want to move to text-based negotiations. Twenty years has been long enough. If we continue [negotiating] for another 20 years, there won’t be any fish left.”

Negotiators at the WTO had been tasked with eliminating subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and prohibiting certain subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. Talks have been going on since 2001 but differences between governments have hindered progress.

2020 had been set as a deadline to strike an agreement, but talks were delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions and the US presidential elections. A deadline was then set for this July, which was again missed. Now, Okonjo-Iweala, appointed as head of the WTO in March, aims to reach an agreement by year-end in what will be a key test for the organisation’s credibility, with members deadlocked on other fronts.

“In international negotiations of this type only two things are relevant. The nitty-gritty to make sure everybody is on the same page, and the spirit that prevails. If Ngozi and Wills reflected correctly what happened in the meeting, we can say there’s cautious optimism over an agreement,” Remi Parmentier, director of environmental consultancy The Varda Group, told China Dialogue Ocean.

 

A potential agreement

At the meeting, ministers discussed an eight-page draft agreement, which lists a range of subsidy bans and some conditions for exemptions for poorer countries, all of which are yet to be finalised. While some delegations like the EU were positive, several ministers expressed reservations over the content of the text.

“Clearly, it will lead to capacity constraints for developing countries, while advanced nations will continue to grant subsidies,” Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal said at the meeting, regarding one part of the text. Pakistan described the draft as “regressive and unbalanced,” while the African coalition said “significant gaps” remain.

Countries’ differences were acknowledged by Ngozi and Wills at the meeting. Nevertheless, they remain optimistic and said the issues would be resolved once countries move into text-based negotiations. The agreement on fishing subsidies will require a consensus among all member states, according to WTO rules.

The draft deal essentially proposes three categories of prohibited subsidies; those that support IUU fishing, affect overfished stocks, or lead to overcapacity and overfishing. While this may sound simple, the political, economic and cultural complexities represent real challenges.

One of the main issues has been the demand for developing countries and the poorest nations to receive so-called special and differential treatment. While this is widely accepted for the poorest countries, demands from self-identified developing countries to be exempt from subsidy constraints has proven to be difficult to accept.

Many of the major fishing nations are considered developing countries by the WTO, including China, which has one of the world’s biggest fishing fleets. China’s minister of commerce, Wang Wentao, expressed China’s “support for the conclusion of [fishing subsidies] negotiations before the end of MC12.” Speaking at the meeting on 15 July, Wang stressed that concluding the negotiations would represent a major contribution from the WTO to the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. “As a developing country and a major fishing power, China will take on obligations commensurate with our level of development”.

At the meeting, Wang also introduced China’s emphasis on green development in future policies on fishing subsidies and its “zero-tolerance” policy towards IUU.

Isabel Jarrett, manager of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ project to end harmful fisheries subsidies, told China Dialogue Ocean that an agreement “with too many loopholes” would undermine the WTO’s sustainability goals. The final text has to ensure that governments aren’t allowed to subsidise “irresponsible practices that can hurt fish populations,” she added.

 

The scale of the problem

Subsidies paid to the global fishing industry amount to around US$35 billion per year (228 billion yuan). Of this, $20 billion is given in forms that enhance the capacity of large fishing fleets, such as fuel subsidies and tax exemption programmes, according to the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries.

In 2018, the world’s top 10 providers of harmful fisheries subsidies gave out $15.4 billion in total, according to a report by Oceana. The EU, as a bloc, provided $2 billion, ranking third behind China and Japan.

Research by Pew has found that eliminating all harmful subsidies could help fish populations recover. Specifically, it would result in an increase of 12.5% in global fish biomass by 2050, which translates into nearly 35 million metric tonnes of fish – almost three times Africa’s entire fish consumption in a single year.

The need for progress on an agreement has gained new urgency during the last few years, as the world’s fish populations have continued to fall below sustainable levels. Around 60% of assessed stocks are fully exploited and 30% are overexploited, according to the latest figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The termination of harmful subsidies, which is embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), would be seen as key progress on ocean sustainability ahead of this year’s UN biodiversity conference in Kunming, scheduled for October, and the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

“This is the year that the agreement has to be delivered. The WTO chief has made positive pronouncements of an agreement this year. There’s light at the end of this 20-year tunnel. The alternative of being in the tunnel shadows is a depressing prospect at the time ocean life is declining,” Peter Thomson, UN special envoy for the ocean, said in a recent webinar.

This article was originally published by China Dialogue

A girl from the Nat community performing – Credit: Department for Social Justice

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, Jul 30 2021 (IPS)

Branded as being born ‘criminal’ 150 years ago under British colonial rule, De-Notified Tribes (DNTs) continue to bear the brunt of the various laws that stigmatised them since 1871.

Dakxin Chhara, the award-winning filmmaker and DNT activist, shared how the DNT community in India continues living an abysmal existence because of a centuries-old criminality stigma. Chhara calls his community an “invisible population” owing to their absence from government records, welfare schemes and a complete lack of political will to address their marginalisation.

“Even within a village in India, one can see the clear demarcation of localities based on caste, religion etc. One of the most marginalised, Dalits (former untouchables) also have an area where they stay, but for DNTs, there is no space within this structure,” Chhara said in an exclusive interview with IPS. “They are not considered worthy of being part of the village, and most end up living in jungles, moving from one place to another, isolated and stigmatised.”

In 1871, nearly 150 tribes were notified to be criminals by the ‘Criminal Tribes Act’ passed by the British, meaning, just being born into one of these tribes made one a criminal. The absurdity of the rationale behind this discriminatory law, introduced in 1871 in India, a society largely based on caste and caste-based discrimination, can be seen in the British official’s introduction to the bill. He said: “People from time immemorial have been pursuing the caste system defined job-positions: weaving, carpentry and such were hereditary jobs. So, there must have been hereditary criminals also who pursued their forefathers’ profession.”

Academics say the creation of these criminal tribes was a “colonial stereotype”. It was to justify the British to discipline or control a section of the population who did not fit into the colonial power’s moral order they were trying to enforce on rural society. Among the worst victims were communities like the DNTs, who did not have a sedentary lifestyle. This made it more difficult to demand their subservience.

The Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, was repealed on August 31, 1952, resulting in the former criminal tribes ‘de-notified’ of this discriminatory tag. However, this was only on paper.

As in most groups, the women from these communities bear many layers of marginalisation. Sakila Khatoon from the north Indian state of Bihar belongs to the Nat community. Married off at a very early age, Sakila pursued her education and worked within the development sector on issues concerning her community. Most women she works with, however, have not had that opportunity, she told IPS.

Women from the Nat community face prejudice and stereotypes because of their involvement in sex work, and those who wish to explore other avenues of livelihood are discouraged and not treated with dignity. Sex workers from the community not only face stigmatisation but also are targets of police excesses. Khatoon shared how children of these women are often discouraged from pursuing higher education and are recipients of undignified comments from people who know that their parents are sex workers.

“Encouraging and supporting women from our communities to pursue higher education is the key to their upliftment,” Khatoon says.

Vijay (name changed) from the ‘Pardhi’ community in the state of Madhya Pradesh shared how harassment by police led to many people belonging to his community commit suicide and how the authorities continue to ostracise them. Youth are arbitrarily arrested on mere suspicion because they are seen as habitual offenders.

Over the years, there haven’t been any genuine attempts to address the plight of the DNT communities, and commissions aimed at improving their condition have failed.

Shiney Vashisht, a PhD research scholar at the Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi, who worked as a researcher at the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic tribes, confirms this.

“The National Commissions established and re-established over the years, have done nothing close to substantial for the DNTs except for half-heartedly recommending welfare steps, that are a mere compilation of suggestions from previous commission reports, based on population projections of decades-old data,” Vashisht says.

Based on her engagement with leaders from the community and field research, she argues that these communities deserve a designated commission, having a constitutional status on the lines of National Commissions for Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The commission should generate a database from a national survey of DNTs. The inquiries should have a strong mandate to recommend DNT specific welfare schemes.

Chhara adds that one of the demands of the DNT community is separate reservations. He gives the example of the state of Maharashtra, where within the OBC quota, there is a separate reservation for DNTs and says that a model similar to this should be applicable throughout the country.

Chhara remembers how as children, his sister eventually gave up going to school after the humiliation of being falsely called a thief in front of the entire class and teacher when a few marble balls went missing.

Years later, little has changed. Chhara had to remove his children from their school after the principal told him that because the school’s trustees belonged to the upper caste, the school had clear instructions of not admitting any children from communities that Chhara came from.

“It is not hard to guess that when something like this can happen to a man like me who has won national and international awards, what would the fate and plight of others belonging to our communities be.”

 

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Civil society leading Covid-19 mask campaign in South Asia

By Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Jul 30 2021 (IPS)

Footage of flames engulfing bodies at makeshift funeral pyres and stories of people dying in cars as drivers desperately raced from hospital to hospital seeking a bed. These scenes marked the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India just months ago.

Nepal was similarly walloped: staff turned away people at intensive care units and patients attached to oxygen cylinders were being treated in parking lots. Other South Asian countries were less affected but overall Covid-19 has officially killed 450,000 people in the region since 2020.

 

 

With vaccines expected to arrive painfully slowly in coming months—India for example has fully vaccinated just 6% of its population, Nepal 4% and Pakistan 2%—mask wearing needs to be the priority, says the guest on today’s episode of Strive.

Maha Rehman is Policy Director at the Mahbub ul Haq Research Centre at Lahore University of Management Sciences, in Pakistan. She is also a leader of the NORM mask-wearing intervention taking place in four countries in the region, and beyond. She describes NORM’s early success in Bangladesh and how finding a way to embed the programme in local communities in each of these very different countries will be key.

If you enjoyed this first episode of Strive, please help spread the word by rating or reviewing the show on Apple podcasts. You can also subscribe, follow or favourite Strive on any podcast app.

Stay up-to-date with us between episodes on Twitter and Facebook. If you have something to say to me directly email me at mlogan@ipsnews.net.

Resources

• NORM mask initiative

 

A platform or support network to champion women with entrepreneurial ambitions and facilitate the exchange of ideas, information, and capital needs to be set up. Credit: Unsplash

By External Source
Jul 30 2021 (IPS)

Muslims are the largest minority community in India, and yet, they are highly underrepresented both in public and private institutions. According to a study conducted by the Economic Times Intelligence Group in 2015, Muslims constituted approximately 2.7 percent of mid to senior executives in the private sector. As of April 2018, only 1.33 percent of officers in the central government, holding the rank of joint secretary and above, were found to be Muslims. 

The lack of women leaders is even starker, and Indian Muslim women are practically invisible in the country’s workforce. There are approximately 70 million educated Muslim women in the country. Given that India’s female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is falling, bringing educated Muslim women into the workforce could, according to one study, account for approximately USD 770 billion of the country’s GDP. Unfortunately, Indian Muslim women face the double disadvantage of being female and Muslim.

Indian Muslim women are practically invisible in the country’s workforce. There are approximately 70 million educated Muslim women in the country.: bringing educated Muslim women into the workforce could, according to one study, account for approximately USD 770 billion of the country’s GDP
Any conversation around Indian Muslim women in India needs to take into account the larger, external ecosystem as well as certain internal factors. External factors include systemic issues, such as the slew of legislations passed by the government, that are leading to further marginalisation of the community as a whole.

Internal to the Muslim community are factors that are in the immediate environment of its women. These include lack of education, social norms, and more, that keep women out of the public space and away from leadership roles in the workforce. Additionally, narratives around Muslims in India tend to focus on poverty, illiteracy, and conviction rates.

And, reportage on Muslim women in India is inextricably linked to either the triple talaaq law or Kashmir. This further enforces certain stereotypes and prejudices that act as roadblocks for the community and leads to discrimination.

Muslim women have always been caught between political considerations and personal marginalisation. Internal factors, too, require systemic changes and are limited until external factors are corrected. However, certain shifts in existing structures can help create space for young Indian Muslim women.

 

What will it take to change this?

1. Increasing enrollment in educational institutions

A report from the National Statistical Office reveals the extremely poor literacy rate among Muslims and the severity of their academic marginalisation in India. It points out that Muslims have the highest proportion of youth (ages 3-35 years) who have never enrolled in formal education.

The report also states that the Gross Attendance Ratio (people attending a level of education as a proportion of the population of the group) of Muslims is the lowest—100 percent in primary education—among various social and religious groups in India, and drops to a mere 14 percent in above-higher secondary courses. One step in the right direction would be to expand the scope of the Right to Education Act of 2009—which ensures compulsory primary education—to include secondary and higher education as well.

While the overall literacy rates for Muslims are abysmal, the report reveals a visible gap between male and female percentages as well. According to the report, the male literacy rate in India is 81 percent whereas the female literacy rate is 69 percent. An unpublished study1 draws parallels between Muslim and Hindu women, stating that women from both communities tend to have lower levels of enrollment as compared to men in Indian society because of various economic and cultural factors.

However, Muslim women also face discrimination in schooling because of their religious affiliation and are less likely to enrol in school compared to Muslim men. Policy changes for the community to encourage Muslims, especially women, to continue their studies and eventually seek employment, therefore, require rigorous and sustained efforts.

2. Ensuring equal opportunities in a professional space

Levelling the playing field for women professionals is key. It becomes essential, therefore, for organisations to follow the Equal Opportunities policy. The Indian Constitution mandates the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth, and mandates equal opportunity in matters of public employment. In India, companies like Nestlé India and DELL, have committed themselves to create a work environment free of discrimination and harassment for their employees.

3. Building a support network of like-minded women

A platform or an informal, inclusive support network to champion women with entrepreneurial ambitions and facilitate the exchange of ideas, information, capital, and counsel needs to be set up. This should include local women-only networking programmes at a village, panchayat, and city-level to spur entrepreneurial engagement and participation. In addition to this, private and public partnerships that are government-led should help provide direct access to technical and business counselling.

4. Celebrating female entrepreneurs

Celebrating women role models through cross-media campaigns by national and state governments can help eliminate stereotypes, build community, and celebrate the successes of Indian Muslim women. This can also be translated to the private sector through a sectoral campaign that brings female professionals and entrepreneurs into the mainstream. This would help young Indian Muslim women identify potential mentors and empower them to continue on their journey, from education to employment.

In order to implement this broad framework, women leaders in the public and private sectors will need to come together to change the current situation. Recognising the need to create a formal network for Indian Muslim women is what led us to establish Led By Foundation—a leadership incubator for Indian Muslim women, to help them be gainfully and meaningfully employed, while also providing them with an ecosystem of support and recognition.

Through our work, we’ve interacted with numerous women who have the ambition, aptitude and aspiration to succeed. However, they lack the avenues—platforms to learn, share and encourage, access—the network, agency, and role models who have paved the path to success.

While we understand that the journey to changing this status quo may be slow and arduous, it is certainly not impossible. In our end state, racial equity—equal representation, economic, social, and political empowerment—will be achieved, and Muslim women will have multiple seats in boardrooms, in mid-level executive positions, in educational institutions, and more.

 

Deepanjali Lahiri is an experienced project management professional with more than 13 years of experience across IT, retail, and FMCG. With a degree in hotel management, she has spearheaded large-scale business projects to establish strategic directions for companies in the growth and acceleration stages. She is passionate about working with organisations and individuals to create a seat at the table for those who need a voice of support and to be a champion of change.

Dr Ruha Shadab graduated from Harvard Kennedy School as a Harvard Public Service Fellow. She has worked as a doctor in low-income neighbourhoods in Delhi, as well as with the Government of India, on systemic issues of healthcare. She established Led By Foundation, a social enterprise that provides professional training and mentorship to Muslim women college students, to inspire the next generation of female change-makers. She believes that for a community to be heard, it first needs to speak up.

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

Fifty percent of vaccine-hesitant Americans believe the message that “Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to prevent COVID-19 and its potential long-term complications”. Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, Jul 30 2021 (IPS)

A new survey on public awareness of long COVID by ‘Resolve to Save Lives” showed that among the 40% of Americans who were not vaccinated, seeing testimonials of those who suffer from long COVID inspired nearly two-thirds to consider the vaccine. A representative sample of nearly 2,000 Americans 18 and older took the survey between May 21 and June 10, 2021.

While most people who recover from COVID-19 get better within a few weeks, some people have health problems for a long time. Even people who were initially asymptomatic can start exhibiting them. Examples of the symptoms include difficulty thinking or concentrating, headache, difficulty breathing, cough, joint or muscle pain, fatigue, loss of smell, lightheadedness, and depression or anxiety.

Trying to avoid long COVID is a good reason to try to not catch COVID-19. This is especially true with the emergence and spread of the highly infectious Delta variant. Long COVID devastates lives, occupations, and incomes

Even though some people may not take precautions or get vaccinated because they think COVID symptoms would be mild if they contract it, long COVID shows that even people with mild or asymptomatic cases can suffer long-term. Trying to avoid long COVID, then, is a good reason to try to not catch COVID-19. This is especially true with the emergence and spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.

Long COVID devastates lives, occupations, and incomes. For instance, Paul Garner, a professor at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group has documented his long COVID experience for the British Medical Journal.

After being diagnosed with COVID-19, receiving treatment and recovering, he had bouts of long COVID symptoms. His symptoms included acutely painful calf, upset stomach, tinnitus, pins and needles, aching all over, breathlessness, dizziness, arthritis in the hands.

A breakdown of the recent survey result shows that learning about these kinds of stories can motivate unvaccinated Americans. In the long COVID survey, 64% of Americans became more concerned about contracting COVID-19 from watching the testimonials.

Thirty-nine percent of those who were unvaccinated, including 31% who were vaccine hesitant, were motivated to consider getting the vaccine. The testimonials were most effective among 18 to 29-year-olds, Hispanics and urbanites.

Fifty percent of vaccine-hesitant Americans believe the message that “Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to prevent COVID-19 and its potential long-term complications”.

As a public health physician and COVID-19 vaccine advocate, I found the survey findings promising. They provide the evidence base to increase vaccine uptake and counter misinformation. What can public health officials do with this information? Here are four steps.

First, engage willing long COVID sufferers and survivors as vaccine advocates. A misleading aspect of this pandemic is that about 80% of those infected do not have any symptoms. This gives the false impression that COVID-19 is not as infectious, harmful or as fatal as it actually is.

Moreover, even those who are asymptomatic can still develop long COVID and that fact needs to be better publicized. The long COVID survey has shown the power of testimonies by sufferers. Governments, national public health institutes, civil society organizations, community-based organizations should leverage this.

This should begin by identifying long COVID sufferers willing to share their testimonies. COVID:Aid, the UK-based long COVID Charity set up to support and give a voice to individuals affected by Covid-19 across the UK, is a great organization to work with. Partnering with COVID:Aid will help identify sufferers and support them to share their stories.

Second, use findings of this survey to create targeted advocacy messaging for all demographics. Such messaging must be aspirational. It should not be designed to make the target groups feel unworthy. Rather, the messaging should be to make them aspire to be vaccinated. It should make the unvaccinated know the importance of being vaccinated and ending the pandemic. Health advocates must seize this opportunity to end the pandemic.

Third, prioritize social media as the medium for communicating the testimonials and targeted advocacy messaging. Vaccine hesitancy is quite common among the youths who use social media since they do not think they will suffer much if they contract it. Using social media in this way should involve working closely with social media firms and involving them in designing the messaging.

Already Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are involved in countering COVID-19-related misinformation and disinformation. Their involvement should include sharing videos of long COVID sufferers talking about their symptoms, how they cope and the benefits of being vaccinated.

Fourth, and related, use influencers to deliver long COVID social media testimonials. Globally, there are billions of social media users ruled by influencers. There are examples of social media influencers countering misinformation.

In Nigeria, the FactsMatterNG used Nollywood celebrity Actor Kate Henshaw (2.3 million Instagram followers). In Indonesia, social media influencers were among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccine. The Indonesian government took this route in world’s largest Muslim country due to the belief that influencers will post their experience online and help convey that vaccines are safe, effective, and allowed under Islamic law.

Celebrity TV star, Raffi Ahmad (54 million Instagram followers) shared his video of being vaccinated and it has been viewed more than 3.7 million times. In the U.S., American pop star Olivia Rodrigo (14.4 million Instagram followers) is supporting the plan by President Biden’s Administration to encourage young people to get vaccinated.

In a White House video, Olivia and Dr. Fauci read tweets and answered questions by young people on COVID-19 vaccination.  The first tweet they read was, “If Olivia Rodrigo tells you to get vaccinated, you get vaccinated“. This tweet shows the power of social media influencers.

Long COVID will be around for a long time. The survey shows that hearing testimonials from sufferers and survivors can help reduce vaccine hesitancy, so we must capitalize on that and work to reduce the likelihood of more people suffering from long COVID.

 

Dr. Ifeanyi McWilliams Nsofor is a graduate of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is a Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University. Ifeanyi is the Director Policy and Advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch.

A Somali resident sells meat at a market in Hudur, where food shortages continue to cause suffering. Meanwhile, between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – some 161 million more than for 2019 – the UN Secretary-General said July 12; “new, tragic data”, which indicates the world is “tremendously off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Credit: UN Photo/Tobin Jones

By Jan Servaes and Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u
BRUSSELS, Belgium / JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Jul 30 2021 (IPS)

A short answer to this question is yes, but it is obvious and predictable failure was visible for some time. This debate started before 2015, the year in which the Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were adopted as successors to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed in 2000. The 8 MDGs were expanded to 17 massive goals and 169 targets.

Using projections from international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD and the WHO, the British Overseas Development Institute (ODI) already quantified in 2015 how much the world would need to accelerate current trends to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

The targets were given a ‘grade’, based on the expected progress. An ‘A’ rating meant that current progress is sufficient to meet the target, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ numbers need to go up a notch. An “F” number indicates that the world is going in the wrong direction.

None of the 17 SDGs was rated A. Only three SDGs, — SDG1 (no poverty), SDG8 (economic growth and decent jobs) and SDG15 (biodiversity) — were rated B. SDG 3 (health for all), 4 (quality education), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), 17 (partnerships for the goals), 2 (no hunger), 6 (water and sanitation), 7 (energy), 5 (gender) and 9 (industrialization) all received an average C grade. SDGs 10 (inequality), 11 (cities), 12 (waste), 13 (climate change) and 14 (oceans) were all unsatisfactory.

In other words, only 3 of the 17 SDGs were on track to achieve a reasonably acceptable outcome by 2030. This score was developed in 2015, long before COVID-19 hit.

With the devastating effect of COVID-19 on nearly every sector of the global economy, it is clear that achieving the SDGs by 2030 is virtually impossible. Moreover, addressing development goals by nation states is more difficult than was recognized by the authors of the 2030 Agenda for Development.

For example, a study by Lin and Monga (2017) concluded that between 1950 and 2008, only 28 countries managed to reduce their gap with the United States by 10 percent or more. That is a period of 58 years, while the 2030 agenda must be realized within 15 years. Of the 28 countries listed by Lin and Monga, only 12 were non-European or non-oil economies.

According to Lin and Monga, the challenge of renewing developing countries’ economies is inseparable from some of the intellectual and policy errors imposed by the Washington consensus in the 1970s to 1990s, the years described as the lost decade for developing countries.

Banerjee and Duflo (2019), who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on poverty alleviation, in fact emphasized how economists designing development policies are out of touch with the realities of ordinary people.

In a more recent analysis, published in the authoritative World Development, Moyer and Hedden (2020) also question how feasible the SDGs are under the current circumstances. They highlight difficulties for some SDG indicators (access to safe sanitation, high school completion, and underweight children) that will not be resolved without a significant shift in domestic and international aid policies and prioritization.

In addition, Moyer and Hedden cite 28 particularly vulnerable countries that are not expected to meet any of the nine human development targets. These most vulnerable countries should be able to count on international aid and therefore financial support.

In our view, the realization of the 2030 agenda can only be achieved on the basis of three factors.

The first is financing. The critical question that is posed in various forums about the SDGs invariably ends with the question: who is going to fund it? Where will the money come from? How can low- and middle-income countries generate sufficient resources to finance the 2030 development agenda.

Although each country has its own priorities, paying the bills for the SDGs remains a delicate matter. The Asia-Europe Foundation calculated (2020: 6) that “the total investment costs to achieve the SDGs by 2030 are between USD 5 and USD 7 trillion per year at the global level and between a total of USD 3.3 and USD 4.5 trillion per year in developing countries.

This implies an average investment need of USD 2.5 trillion per year in developing countries. To better understand the real financial needs of the SDGs, these countries should prepare their own estimates, at least for their priority objectives”.

A significant effort must be made through the private sector and philanthropists. While governments and ordinary people have been hit hard by the health and economic impact of COVID-19, in a way it has been good news for billionaires, many of whom have seen their wealth grow astronomically.

A report from the Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) shows that US billionaires have seen their wealth grow by $1 trillion between March and November 2020. Amazon’s owner Jeff Bezos’ net worth increased 61 percent between March and November 2020, from $113 billion to $182.4 billion.

The report added that just three years ago, there was not a single multi-billionaire, that is, a person with a net worth of more than $100 billion. Since November 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are now at least 5 multi-billionaires; namely Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Bernard Arnault, president of Louis Vuitton; Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; and Elon Musk of Tesla (Huffington Post 2020).

These billionaires, along with the more than 2,000 billionaires from around the world, are wealthy enough to help make substantial progress in some of the SDGs.

The second important factor that can help achieve the SDGs is political will. Many countries have drawn up ambitious national development plans that look great on paper. How many of those plans end up being realized?

When one sees that the fortunes of a country have been successfully changed through the effective implementation of national plans, one cannot separate such achievements from the strong political will of the leaders. The example of China speaks for itself.

The crucial question to be asked is whether that political will is there. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, responded to a mid-term review of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2020): “It is inevitable that one crucial ingredient is still missing. Political will. Without political will, neither the public opinion, nor the stakeholders take sufficient action”. This is where the challenge to achieve the SDGs lies, i.e. a real political will.

The third factor is the need for robust communication for development and social change, so that political will can be conveyed to all stakeholders. Leaders who inspire change do so with the communication tools available in their time.

While the digital age disrupts social systems and drives transformation at a scale and pace unparalleled in history, the SDGs remain quite silent on the subject. Indeed, today digital technologies determine what we read and consume, how we vote and how we interact with each other and the world around us.

Many risks and uncertainties are emerging, including threats to individual rights, social justice and democracy, all amplified by ‘the digital divide’ – the differential speed of internet penetration and access to digital technologies around the world.

None of the SDGs can be achieved unless people are able to communicate their dreams, concerns and needs – locally, nationally, regionally, globally. We therefore propose to supplement the list with SDG 18: Communication for all.

Communications for social change in the era of COVID-19 must also consider the challenge of misinformation when initiating communication strategies. Therefore, the communication strategies of the World Bank, UNICEF or WHO are not comprehensive enough.

First, they failed to take into account the challenges of infodemics and fake news in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The second shortcoming is that the strategies contain little scientific communication to make the public aware of how health professionals make decisions and advise the public about its safety. Disinformation is a critical factor that exacerbates the challenges that communication for development and social change must address.

For all these reasons, the UN and the rest of the international community need to be realistic and review the 2030 Agenda for Development by shifting the timeline from 2030 to 2050.

Some regional organizations, such as the African Union, have already set the date for achieving their development goals to 2063 (https://au.int/en/agenda2063/sdgs).

The SDGs should be prioritized with SDG1 on the eradication of extreme poverty as the main objective for the next 10 years. Eradicating extreme poverty is likely to have implications for other SDGs, in particular SDGs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Efforts to eradicate extreme poverty should not be based on slogans, but should be supported by governments, funding agencies, donors and philanthropists are seen as the best chance to save humanity. The intellectual errors and policies imposed on low- and middle-income countries, which plunge them further into the abyss of underdevelopment, must be avoided.

Serious thought should be accorded to the post COVID19 world due to the impact of the lockdown on the global economy. Some governments, multinational institutions and private sector are hastening to institutionalize remote work before the pandemic ends.

As an interim major, working from home has contributed significantly in reducing the impact of the pandemic, but what is the impact of working from home on the future of work in a post-COVID-19 World?

Will the closure of offices, firms and other businesses for remote work accelerate or reduce the chances of achieving the SDGs? Is there sufficient data to back the policy decisions on a permanent remote work culture? How does this affect the employability of low and unskilled workers?

These are questions that policy makers must think through. The SDGs are meant to promote social inclusion and reduce inequality, not to save money and increase profitability.

Setting the timeline for the achievement of the SDGs to 2050 will allow sufficient time to re-evaluate progress made so far, complete missing objectives, such as SDG 18 on communication for all, and bridge the lost ground of the SDGs.

It will also give the global community ample time to strategize on how to deal with the potential rise of right-wing, populist and nationalist governments such as Bolsonaro, Duterte or Trump’s, which may impose limits on the SDGs through their disdain for multilateralism. And plans must also be made in advance to mitigate the next disasters that could impair the achievement of the SDGs.

Jan Servaes was UNESCO-Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He taught ‘international communication’ and ‘communication for sustainable social change’ in Australia, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, the US, Netherlands and Thailand, in addition to short-term projects at about 120 universities in 55 countries.

Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u is an international development expert and former journalist with the BBC World Service, London. He was the Managing Editor of Africa Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School, USA and one-time Senior Lecturer in Media and Politics at Northumbria University, UK; he has taught Mass Communications at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.

This text is based on Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u & Jan Servaes (eds.).
The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development, Palgrave MacMillan, 2021, ISBN 978-3-030-69769-3, https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030697693

 

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The man reading is a displaced man in the IDP camp ISP in Bunia. Credit: Elena L. Pasquini

By Elena L. Pasquini
ROME, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

He moves aside the curtain, thin as gauze, and then bends over. The darkness dazzles for a few seconds when one enters the house—actually, a den made of earth where air and light filter through the narrow entrance. Jean de Dieu Amani Paye holds her tiny baby, wrapped in an elegant fabric, in his arms. He was a teacher of French and Latin and had a small business. He also cultivated the land: cassava, corn, sorghum, and beans.

Now he is a leader of the ISP camp on the outskirts of Bunia, the capital of the province of Ituri, where internally displaced people take shelter. His struggle is not only to survive but to also help those who have nothing left except a memory of horror. His struggle is against “grudges.”

“There are always grudges that remain in people’s hearts because they see the living conditions we lead here,” he explains. “If we think about what has happened since we arrived, it throws us into regret.” He escaped, having to leave behind everything, like almost two million other people in what is one of the worst and most forgotten humanitarian crises on the planet. He left his village due to the conflict in the region’s countryside, at the extreme north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the border with Uganda, where the green of the forest blends with the ocher and red of the land.

Bile Luchobe and the men and women who have reached the camps of Bunia from the territories of Djugu and Irumu explain what feeds the rancor. “They go around with the heads of those who kill and mutilate their bellies, then leave the bodies there, among the trees. The houses are burning down. It is impossible to remain in these conditions, so I fled,” she says. “They kill a person and eat his heart. It’s impossible to stay in a place like that.”

Since May of this year, the Congolese government has decreed a state of siege in an attempt to control a conflict that returns in waves like a damnation—from 1998 to 2003, and then until 2007. In 2017, there were less than 500,000 displaced people; now they number 1.7 million in a region slightly smaller than Ireland. The peak came in June 2020, when the brutality of the armed groups emptied the villages. Civilians are targets; terror and rape are weapons of war. A war too often described–in a manner akin to throwing alcohol on a fire–as simply the result of an ancestral hatred.

Bile fears that what happened in Djugu might happen here. “For women, whether you run away or not, these bandits will catch you, they will rape you. Even if there are ten people, they will all pass over you,” she says. She experiences panic attacks because in this patch of land, which should host four thousand people but lodges more than twelve thousand, the gunshots at night offer a reminder that war is not far.

Jean de Dieu Amani Paye. Credit: Elena L. Pasquini

The ISP – where Jean de Dieu, secretary of the camp’s steering committee, lives – was set up through the efforts of displaced people on the properties of Bunia’s Institut Supérieur Pédagogique and the Catholic diocese. They have built small shelters with reeds and mud on the slope of a hill, so close to each other that it’s hard to walk between them. There are also large common areas, a hangar crowded with too many souls. The ISP is not the only IDPs camp in Bunia. Kigonze is home to a growing number of persons. It has been established in 2019 by humanitarian organizations to receive those who lived on other sites now closed and to decongest the overcrowded ISP. It can be reached along a junky dirt road that cuts through cultivated land. There are no mud houses at Kigonze; instead, there are tarapulins, silvery and dazzling under the African sun.

Jean de Dieu comes from a small town near Walendu Bindi. He fled with his family, whose older members carried the children on their backs, on a Saturday afternoon in February 2018. They had not even a sweet potato to eat. The family knew that the militiamen had set fire to the houses in a nearby village and that the violence would eventually reach them. They fled all night, until the morning. “We waited for a truce. We wanted to return, at least to get some water. We learned that bandits had returned, had taken the goats, burned houses, and taken away the many things left.” He talks with his legs curled up and his back leaning against the intensely yellow wall of the room where his household members sleep and eat. “We still live here, despite the living conditions.”

Those who flee want to get to Bunia, which is safer than the rural centers. IDPs sites, although potential targets, are patrolled by police and soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping mission. However, a hiss is enough to generate panic. “If you hear the shots of the bullets 7 km from where you are, why can’t they get here? It is close to us,” Jean de Dieu says.

“The camp is open, there is no fence. It can be crossed; people pass from left to right. We don’t really know who they are. The assailants have already entered the city,” François Mwanza Lwanga adds with concern. He is among the leaders of the ISP camp, too. He is the president of the committee. He fled with his family and his very young baby—only two weeks old—from Sanduku, almost a hundred kilometers from Bunia. Reaching the city took them three days on foot. It was February 2018.

Bile Luchobe. Credit: Elena L. Pasquini

Elena Mbusi is sitting with Bile in front of her small house, a mirror nestled in the mud wall. She wears a blue dress with white motifs and puff sleeves. A beautifully knotted brown scarf adorns her head. A small crowd of youth throngs beside them. “I was not afraid, but this war is killing our children. This is the biggest loss,” she says. Elena arrived at the ISP on February 12, 2018, from Bahema Baguli and she is part of the team that organizes the life at the camp, too. Like Bile, hygienist. “We are here but we are really afraid. Several people send us messages saying that the fighting will reach us in the city, at the camp. But may they have mercy on us!”

The two women stand and slowly walk through the narrow alleys, up to a widening at the top of the hill where the wind blows and the smoke rises from the braziers on which food is cooked. Children play silently and the cassava dries in the sun on an immense cream-colored sheet. The hangar where Bile lives is not far away. It is a common house made of mud and wooden boards through which a very clear light filters through. A wall is covered with sacks and cloths that seem to gather all the colors of Africa. Children wash themselves in plastic basins while their mothers knead cassava flour to make foufou, a kind of soft grit or porridge. Bile, who lives at the ISP with her seven grandchildren and many other relatives, is frightened by the night crackle of firearms. “I’m afraid of almost everything. I am traumatized and to hear that what happened to Djugu is happening here… When I remember what happened in my village, I have panic attacks,” she says.

Only minor traumas can be relieved at the camps. When the conditions are too serious, patients are referred to the local hospital, while a Congolese non-governmental organization, Sofepadi, takes care of women victims of sexual exploitation, as Josèphine Atibaguwe, a nurse at the Kigonze camp, explains.

Fear paralyzes. Those who live in the camp know that. Outside, insecurity does not cease. There’s nothing to do but wait and hope that food aid, never enough, won’t be lacking. Leaving the camp is a risk that very few take. Children, on the other hand, beg in the city center, becoming easy prey for being recruited into armed groups. The sites where displaced people live mark the boundary between the city and the countryside, but the countryside is inaccessible. “Before, we would have gone to the fields near [Bunia] as day laborers, but those who have the courage to cross the Shali bridge never come back. If you go far, they can kill you for nothing,” explains Rachel Turache, a mother of five who lives in Kigonze and comes from Liseyi. She represents those who live in the bloc, 1 sector B.

“This life is too difficult,” Francois says. “We seem to be people without responsibility because we no longer depend on ourselves but on NGOs. We are unemployed and do not work. Our intelligence continues to decline. Children’s behavior is also changing.” The clothes hanging from the ceiling of his house, the pots in a corner next to a small stove where food is cooked by burning dark spheres of charcoal that dry in the sun, made of coal and water by women and children: Francois tells how hard it is. For his wife, it would be a problem if she could not find the pagne, a large piece of fabric women use to grid their hips. Those who are married wear it, a visible form of dignity and respect.

“It is not the life lived in the village. We ate well there,” recalls François. The children grew up well, while now, childhood malnutrition is rampant. In Kigonze, there is a feeding session every Wednesday for the most severe cases of acute malnutrition. Children are fed pre-prepared food made of peanuts, milk, and other ingredients. It’s cold at night, in Kigonze, and too hot during the day. Mosquitoes bring diseases. At the medical center, Josephine wears a pure white gown and distributes drugs: “The cases we record are mainly malaria, diarrhea, and, in children, malnutrition,” she explains. No Covid cases until now, but only fever and cough, and no plague, which has returned in Aru.

Charcoal balls. Credit: Elena L. Pasquini

The houses of Kigonze are in parallel rows and overlook avenues where a little activity flows: a few motorbikes, small shops that sell everything, women crushing cassava leaves In a mortar, cassava is ground by noisy millstones. The longed-for life is that of rural Africa: lush, blessed yet tortured, where food is at war with minerals, where gold, agriculture, and livestock struggle to share the same land. Bile, who was a primary school teacher, farmed the land after work, as Rachel used to do.

“We try to live despite everything; certainly, this is not the life we led in our villages,” explains Rachel, her hands resting on a yellow pagne, a splash of color in the monotony of Kigonze’s light-colored shelters. The rhinestones on her blouse sparkle as she recounts what the war has destroyed, the mornings when she woke up early to look after the cattle before going to the fields, and the evenings spent sustaining the family income with a small business. “My greatest passion was feeding my cattle,” adds Michel Kiza Barongo, who sits next to Rachel in a pink plastic chair under a canopy. He comes from Fataki and was a village chief. Now, he is the chief of the bloc 15, sector B.

Accepting dependence on others, to lose what has been painstakingly built, is hard. Some try to go back, those who do not want to leave their homes, even if a truce does not necessarily mean peace. A few have managed to move back to their former lives. When Jean de Dieu’s village was attacked, not everyone reached Bunia immediately; some returned for the space of a season. “They also cultivated the fields, but as harvest time approached, [the violence] erupted again,” says Jean de Dieu. “As leaders and representatives, we are reassuring people by telling them that what happens today will pass, that they can stay in this situation because if they leave, they will continue to face other dangerous situations.”

Kigonze has a steering committee, like the ISP: displaced people who help other displaced people, together with local and international organizations, UNHCR, WFP, Caritas, and IOM. There is who is in charge of health, of women, spare time and children, or surveillance. At the ISP, there are thirty-eight avenues, streets, or “blocs,” each with its own leader.

They try to convince those who live in the camp to stay and break the spiral that leads to never-ending displacement, but they also try to tackle the hardest task: helping people bear the weight of suffering and not getting swallowed by another spiral, the one leading from rancor to violence. “What we are doing here is raising awareness to relieve their tension. We give advice so that displaced persons do not participate in demonstrations here and there in the city and so that they know how to deal with stress because everyone here has their own story,” Francois explains. There are stories like that of Bernadette Ngaji, a sixty-three-year-old from Largukwa, who witnessed violence and looting. She sits on the ground, on the threshold of her house in the Kigonze camp. The brown pagne decorated in purple and beige lies like a blanket on her outstretched legs, which she struggles to bend. Three bullets created a long scar on her left leg, which she must use as a pivot to get up. The right leg is marked by burns that look like faded petals. “In my village, I was a hard worker. I had my own shop; I was selling fuel and I had three vehicles and everything has been burned… I’m here as a disabled victim of the war,” she says. Bernadette does not leave the camp because outside it would be worse. She will flee only if war reaches her there. Elena stays, too. “I can’t go back there, not in this insecurity. If there is a return of peace, of course, I will go back.”

In the darkness of the displaced lives, dazzling as when entering the cramped houses, one clings to Michel’s concise words: “It was the mutual help between the populations that struck me more.” Solidarity within a conflict whose reasons no one, from the ISP to Kigonze, can explain. Trying to understand them means unraveling a tangle of threads that from Bunia—the capital besieged by the desperation of those seeking refuge and sustained by the courage of those who struggle to weave the web of peace with those same threads—leads to rural villages and, then, much farther.

Nagaji Bernadette. Credit: Elena L. Pasquini

This feature was first published by Degrees of Latitude
Akilimali Saleh Chomachoma as producer and Sahwili interpreter

 

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Elena Pasquini filming somewhere in the AKIgonze IDPs camp in the outskirts of Bunia in Ituri. Credit: Elena Pasquini

By Sania Farooqui
NEW DELHI, India, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most hostile and dangerous regions for journalists. A complex conflict, deeply rooted in the country’s past, allows very little freedom, both movement and the press.

“There are multiple actors involved, and as a journalist, we have the duty of admitting this complexity,” says Elena Pasquini, founder and editor in chief of Degrees of Latitude, in an interview with IPS. “Be aware of the difficulties when it comes to understanding the issues, and be careful of every single word we use to portray this conflict.”

Pasquini, who reported from the DRC earlier this year, says the risk of reporting from such a conflict zone is not just physical, not just a question of safety, but also highlights the responsibility journalists have in their work and how they cover a story.

“For a journalist and a foreigner, it’s really important to understand when a situation is potentially risky and identify the threats at an early stage. I was worried while travelling along roads that I knew were home to armed groups. I was scared each time I was stopped at a checkpoint and while interacting with the police or even walking in areas where kidnappings occur frequently,” Pasquini says. “It’s important to learn from the local colleagues and adapt our behaviour according to the local environments.”

Elena Pasquini travelling with the UN peacekeeping mission, somewhere in Irumu territory, Ituri. Credit: Elena Pasquini

According to Journalists in Danger (JED), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) partner organisation in the DRC, at least 115 press freedom violations were logged in 2020. This report by RSF tells of how several journalists had been detained in response to complaints by provincial governors. A former minister sued one of RSF’s correspondents. Armed groups prevalent in the east of the country have attacked, threatened, or forced journalists into hiding. One journalist was killed.

“A journalist who has gone missing, his family members were informed by an armed group that he had been executed three days after abducting him,” the report says. “Journalists with many online followers have been the victims of smear campaigns.”

Women are often victims of abuse and violence, and in the DRC, rape is a weapon of war, says Pasquini. Crowded areas in the DRC are often chaotic and hotspots for fights, protests, and gatherings, which can turn deadly.

While covering a protest against an alleged extrajudicial execution, Pasquini had no choice but to trust the instinct of her local driver, who asked her to immediately stop filming, roll up the car windows and not make eye contact with anyone outside.

“At that point, I didn’t think about the weapons or the machetes the people surrounding our car could have had. I don’t know if I would have been a target or not, but I simply followed my driver’s instructions and got out safely. It’s truly the fixers, producers and the drivers who make the difference and can save your life in such situations,” Pasquini says.

Earlier in February this year, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, was killed. According to this report, the United Nations convoy he was travelling in came under fire near Goma, killing him, an Italian military police officer and a Congolese driver.

Pasquini was amongst the few international journalists present in the DRC at the time and had travelled along the same route and with the same convoy just a few days before the attack on the Italian Ambassador.

“That road connects Goma to Uganda, and it’s as dangerous as any area would be in a conflict zone. It is very difficult to have an idea of what really happened, but from my experience, I can say kidnapping to get ransom is very common on that side.”

“I hope the investigation will lead to the discovery of who is behind the attack of the Ambassador, it is hard, and impunity is common. Every day such crimes are committed, and it is very rare that someone is convicted for those crimes, or even just identified,” says Pasquini.

Over the years, multiple conflicts which escalated in the eastern part of the DRC forced almost 6000 people to flee their homes, making this crisis “the largest number of new displacements due to conflict in the world”.

“DR Congo is one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century. A lethal combination of spiralling violence, record hunger levels and total neglect has ignited a mega-crisis that warrants a mega-response. But instead, millions of families on the brink of the abyss seem to be forgotten by the outside world and are left shut off from any support lifeline,” the Secretary-General of Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said in a statement.

A residential area in Goma, North Kivu. Volcano Nyragongo seen in the background. Credit: Elena Pasquini

Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates that there are 5.5 million internally displaced people in the country. Nearly 930,000 people from Congo were registered as refugees and asylum seekers in at least 20 countries worldwide. Numerous armed groups and, in some cases, government security forces attack civilians, killing and wounding many.

“Several thousand fighters from various armed groups surrendered throughout the year, but many have returned to armed groups as the authorities failed to take them through an effective Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program. In many instances, armed assailants were also responsible for sexual violence against women and girls, HRW said.

In May, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi proclaimed a “state of siege” in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province to counter growing attacks and fights against armed groups.

Despite efforts by the government, violence and insecurity continue to threaten the safety of journalists in this region. JED & RSF have called out the DRC’s government to prioritise two major reforms to keep its promise to improve press freedom and create mechanisms designed to ensure rapid response to violations and follow up at the highest level. It also asked the government to establish a communication channel with press freedom groups and step up its protection for journalists, and combat impunity.

“The lack of legislation that can protect freedom of the press remains a challenge in the DRC. The level of violence is very high, so you have to put in place a lot of safety measures and do what you can to protect yourself,” says Pasquini.

“We need to keep the spotlight on the DRC and keep the attention on what’s happening in that country. Due to the ongoing conflict, it is already very dangerous to travel, to go to those places where stories are happening. It’s also very tough to verify information,” Pasquini says. “There are multiple threats from various armed groups, various checkpoints all over the region, institutional threats of defamation, they all make it very tough to tell the story, and that’s why we need to tell those stories even more.”

 

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View of Standard Gauge Railway, at Mlolongo from Nairobi National Park, Kenya. Credit: Backrop Ke / Flickr

By External Source
NAIROBI, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

Kenya is constructing a railway line that connects the coastal port of Mombasa and the interior of the country. It is expected to terminate at Malaba, a town on the border with Uganda, and link up with other railways that are being built in East Africa. It’s locally known as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

The passenger and freight railway line is one of the biggest infrastructure investments in Kenya’s history. Construction began in 2014 at an estimated cost of US$3.8 billion, 90% of which is supplied by a loan from the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China and 10% from the Kenyan government.

Although the actual land area affected by the railway itself is small, parts of it are raised and it cuts through a wide range of the country’s ecologically fragile and important ecosystems. For instance, the railway cuts across Tsavo Conservation Area (which supports about 40% of Kenya’s elephant population) and the Nairobi National Park. It also traverses range lands in southern Kenya that support pastoral communities and are vulnerable to the impacts of climate and changes in land use.

My colleagues and I carried out a study to gain insights into all the impacts the railway was having on the environment.

The construction of the railway is being done in three phases. The first two phases (now completed) cover 610km. The third phase is still under construction. Our study focused along the entire stretch of the first two phases, covering eight counties from Mombasa to Narok.

Map of the railway corridor.

The project involves many stakeholders including various levels of government (such as the National Environment Management Authority and Kenya Wildlife Service), local communities, civil society organisations and the private sector. For our study, we hosted group interviews and meetings with 54 key informants from all these sectors.

We found that the construction and operation of the railways has degraded, fragmented and destroyed key ecosystems. It increased soil erosion, land degradation, flooding and habitat destruction. It also affected water bodies and wildlife movement.

Environmental impact assessments for the railway were conducted, and these are of an international standard. The final reports, which included recommendations, were written to facilitate licensing by the National Environment Management Authority, the government regulator.

However, it’s become clear that the recommendations weren’t fully implemented. Several observers identified a lack of funding, technical capacity and political interference as some of the barriers.

Project proponents must develop measures that properly mitigate the key ecosystem challenges and ensure they’re enforced.

 

Impact on land

Participants in our study identified that the railway line had an impact on soil, water and air contamination, during construction and operation of the line.

During construction, soil was compacted and excavated. It was also moved from one location to another to erect embankments. This has many effects on the environment. For instance, Community Forest Association officials (around the coastal mangrove forests in Mombasa) observed that sediment, eroded from the rail embankments, affected streams and plants. They said that:

not only did it affect mangroves seed development and self-germination but also blocked streams and reduced the stream size…

Another challenge was that underpasses were built to allow for movement under the railway. This is because the railway is raised. But these underpasses redirected surface water and rainfall courses. Respondents from Narok county observed that this led to erosion, leading to the siltation of water sources, including Lake Magadi – a unique saline, alkaline lake which is surrounded by wildlife and a major source of trona. This is a sodium carbonate compound that is processed into soda ash or bicarbonate of soda.

Another impact was the blasting of land for construction material. Communities around Nairobi said that this caused tremors, sometimes causing buildings to crack.

 

Flooding

Floods have been a major challenge. To avoid cutting through the railway embankments, contractors rerouted natural surface water flows (such as streams) to the underpasses.

But this led to increases in the volume and speed of the water flow which caused flooding and soil erosion. This was compounded by the clearing of surrounding vegetation, which would usually slow water down.

In Voi, county officials explained how storm water flooded low lying homesteads and farms during heavy rains.

A blocked river in Kitengela.

In addition, silt from construction led to the blockage or drying up of rivers, notably the Empakashe and Mbagathi rivers around Nairobi. Most communities in these areas rely on the rivers for domestic consumption, watering their livestock and irrigation agriculture.

 

Pollution

Another concern was oil spills. These occurred due to fuel transport accidents and because of train and railway maintenance activities.

For instance, local officials in Kibwezi County said that an oil spill polluted the Thange River. Now the river can’t be used for irrigation or domestic purposes. The land in the affected area is still unsafe for cultivation.

Noise pollution was also reported during construction and operation of the railway, particularly in the areas around Nairobi and Voi. Some communities were unable to sleep and school classes were disrupted due to the noise levels.

Dust pollution was an additional challenge. There were reports of coughs and chest pain.

Communities relying on wetlands and rivers in Voi, Kibwezi, Tuala and Narok areas lost access to some of these critical resources, and the long-term prospects are unclear.

An additional impact of the railway was the emergence of illegal activities, such as grazing in protected areas.

Officials of the Kenya Wildlife Service observed that:

local communities {were} using the underpasses to pass their livestock through to Tsavo National Park particularly around Buchuma gate.

The livestock incursions resulted in serious soil degradation in the southern part of Tsavo East.

Wildlife was also affected. About 120km of the line traverses through a key wildlife area, Kenya’s Tsavo National Park.

We learnt that elephants displayed early signs of behavioural modification. This included aggression and avoidance of the railway area.

Photo: trapped young bull #elephant between the SGR #railway & fence line on May 2017 in #Tsavo, showing some of the immense challenges for wildlife due to the expanding “human footprint.” The fence line needs further thought, to avoid harm to elephants https://t.co/QlDRFp3LG3 pic.twitter.com/yoUs59a43F

— Biodiversityloss (@BiodiversitySoS) March 2, 2018

These are consistent with behavioural adaptations observed among other species which shift their home ranges or alter their movement patterns due to infrastructure.

 

What next

Linear infrastructure projects like the railway must develop sustainable and ecologically sensitive measures to mitigate these impacts.

For example, underpasses must be at the right density and of the right size. At present, the underpasses are few and are located in areas not used regularly by wildlife.

In addition, water courses should be channelled and redirected to avoid flooding.

Furthermore another full assessment, involving all stakeholders, is needed of the environmental impacts of the railway. This is key to designing a sustainable railway. It must ensure that development gains are maximised while the ecosystem impacts are minimised.

Tobias Nyumba, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Nairobi

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

By Trevor Page
LETHBRIDGE, Canada, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

From an international humanitarian perspective, the first half of 2021 has been disappointing. We’re no further ahead in ending the conflict in Syria and Yemen. From the fledgling democracy that it had become, Myanmar has descended into what most of its people had hoped was a bygone era of military rule. And in Ethiopia, where its Prime Minister, Ably Ahmed, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, armed conflict in Tigray is preventing the 2020 winners of the very same prize, the World Food Programme, from delivering the food needed to stop at least 350,000 Ethiopians from starving to death.

Trevor Page

These are not the only conflicts raging in 2021. There are many in Africa and a few still linger on in Asia and South America. And once again, Afghanistan, the country that defied Alex the Great, the Brits, the Russians and now the Americans and NATO, is set to move center stage on the humanitarian front.

Since its founding in 1945, Canada has always looked to the United Nations to head off armed conflict and to alleviate the human suffering that it causes. That includes preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war. Canada’s contribution to UN peacebuilding has dropped considerably since 1970, when its proposal for 0.7% of a donor country’s GNI was accepted as the target for foreign aid. Nevertheless, it is still among the top five donors to the World Food Programme. Canadians expect the UN to do its job.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres and WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, have repeatedly warned that unless war and armed conflict is ended, people could starve to death in several countries. They have appealed to the leaders of opposing sides and those fighting proxy wars to let UN humanitarians and their NGO partners do their job. In early February 2021, soon after the fighting started in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, David Beasley visited Addis Ababa. He was assured that immediate access to Tigray would be granted for WFP and other humanitarian workers, as well as safe passage for its convoys of food aid trucks. Well, that didn’t happen for months. The first WFP plane with humanitarian workers only landed in Makelle, Tigray’s capital, on July 22. As for the convoys of WFP food aid trucks, they’re frequently attacked or blocked en route and don’t have anything like free passage.

So why is the UN so ineffective at ending conflicts, or even getting access granted for humanitarian supplies? It’s all to do with the principles on which the UN was founded: noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign States. So, are UN humanitarians just supposed to stand by when a government decides to attack and kill off some of its citizens, or let large numbers starve to death when famine looms? No, not since the World Summit of 2005, when governments unanimously adopted R2P or the Responsibility to Protect.

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan insisted that the traditional notions of sovereignty had been redefined: “States are now widely understood to be instruments at the service of their peoples”, he argued. In his report “We the People” on the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, he posed the following question: “If humanitarian intervention is, indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity?”

Yet despite the widespread human suffering in Syria, Yemen, Myanmar and Ethiopia, the Responsibility to Protect has not been invoked. More work needs to be done on R2P, including an expansion of its scope. So too on “humanitarian intervention”, which does not always require the deployment of foreign forces to mitigate human suffering. And the voluntary agreement by P5 Security Council members (Britain, China, France Russia and the United States) to withhold their veto power when resolutions to stop genocide and crimes against humanity are being considered is another ad hoc effort to prevent the wholesale slaughter of humankind. But with more and more ordinary people around the world standing up and making it known to their governments that crimes against humanity and dying from starvation is not acceptable, it is clear that the piecemeal approach that we’ve cobbled together over the last half-century falls well short of today’s expectations. A total overhaul and reorganization of the UN humanitarian system is required as a first step.

In September, when the UN General Assembly reconvenes, Antonio Guterres will be reconfirmed as UN Secretary General. For the next 5 years, he will have the opportunity to bring about some the changes to the UN System that he keeps speaking about without having to worry if any of the P5 will oppose his second term in office. He will have to move fast on Agenda 2030, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. With less than a decade to go, these are far from being attained. We must reduce inequality; it’s a major cause of conflict.

Covid-19 is the biggest challenge the world has faced since the Spanish Flu, a century ago. It has affected everyone and everything we do. It has increased the number of food insecure people around the world by149 million, according to WFP; so close on 1 billion of us now go to bed hungry. And despite anti-Covid vaccines having been developed in record time, variants will keep emerging and we’ll be playing catch-up for years to come.

Climate change, an even bigger challenge, is already on us and is set to intensify. Extreme weather has devastated parts of north-western America and neighbouring Canada this Spring resulting in unbearably high heat and wildfires. Abnormal floods in China and Germany have resulted in unusually high mortality and devastated towns and cities in both countries.

So, while 2021 will end up as a disappointing year for multilateralists, the challenges that lie ahead in 2022 and beyond will be even greater. Despite the odds, UN humanitarians and their NGO partners have already saved many lives in 2021. But years of experience show that a revamped United Nations System is critical if we are to deal effectively with the challenges of the 21st century.

Trevor Page, resident in Lethbridge, Canada, is a former Director of the World Food Programme. He also served with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR and what is now the UN Department of Political and Peace Building Affairs.

 

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Credit: UNICEF

By Guillaume Baggio, Manzoor Qadir and Vladimir Smakhtin
HAMILTON, Ontario, Canada, Jul 29 2021 (IPS)

In 1995, a highly-respected water expert in South Africa, Bill Pitman, in very concise terms illustrated that the country, already battling a growing lack of water then, would likely run out in 25 years if it did not increase its supply.

Twenty-five years have now passed and the country is thirstier than ever. The recent water crisis in Cape Town is just one manifestation of the nation’s chronic water scarcity. And there is likely more water trouble ahead.

Water scarcity issues have been vexing experts for decades. Scientists developed and debated various water scarcity concepts, indicators, and projections, essentially saying that it is a global issue with strong local specifics. Worldwide estimates of people affected by water scarcity vary accordingly and get gloomier with time.

A most recent assessment of water availability suggests that population growth alone (i.e. not factoring in climate change or water quality considerations) will lead to an unprecedented and widespread drop in water availability per capita.

By 2050, 87 countries will be water scarce (per capita water availability below 1,700 cubic meters per year), and the number of countries with absolute water scarcity (per capita water availability under 500 cubic meters per year) will almost double, from 25 today to 45.

As population growth is highly related to socioeconomic conditions, transitions to water scarcity may be particularly painful in the Global South. Low-income countries are projected to have an average drop in water availability per capita of around 46%, followed by lower-middle-income countries (decreasing by around 30%), upper-middle-income countries (12%), and high-income countries (close to 5%).

Credit: UNICEF

In a matter of 20–30 years — within a single generation — Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to become the next hotspot of water scarcity, where availability per capita will be halved by 2050. In the already bone-dry Middle East and North Africa region, water availability per capita might drop by 33%, followed by Asia (24%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (18%).

Ironically, and sadly, many countries in the Global South are water scarce already, although in a different way: they have no or little infrastructure to support people and their economy, even though some may be well endowed with freshwater resources.

They may therefore transition silently to physical scarcity — when there will simply not be enough water for all users and purposes. Hence, South Africa’s experience will likely be repeated in many countries, in unforeseen ways, within the lifetime of many of us. And economically-advanced countries will taste water scarcity too.

There are, of course, ways to mitigate the impacts of growing water shortages. All of them are context- specific.

One widely-advocated option is water demand management — particularly through improving water use efficiency in agriculture, responsible for most global water withdrawals. Efficiency cannot increase indefinitely, though.

Some countries may consider slowing population growth. Water is, after all, a limited resource. More people living in low-income and lower-middle-income countries means that water scarcity will become progressively more difficult to deal with — perhaps even impossible in our lifetime — despite aggressive water demand management.

Reducing population growth in developing countries can be achieved by meeting certain sustainable development goals (SDGs) — like SDG 4 (education) or SDG 8 (decent work).

As countries implement the options most suitable for them, one stands out as universally applicable: increasing water supply. Whether it is developing more water storage infrastructure (where feasible), or municipal water recycling and reuse, or improved agricultural water management practices — all options should be on the table. And many have already been proven effective all over the world.

In addition to the above, countries can benefit from and should consider a variety of “unconventional” — and hence yet mostly untapped resources — from the Earth’s seas to its upper atmosphere. Options and sources like harvesting water from the air, capturing flood rainwater in aquifers at large basin scales where the geology permits, massive implementation of climate-independent sea water desalination (a virtually unlimited resource) in coastal areas, where the majority of the world population lives — all have already demonstrated potential to address increasing local water shortages.

The perceived high cost of some such technologies is gradually going down; hence they are becoming more affordable with time. And the cost of inaction will certainly be higher.

In any case, water scarcity should not be seen as a myth or some science construct. It is a global challenge that manifests itself locally in a variety of ways. The water scarcity experiences in many countries clearly suggests a paradigm shift is needed. If we fail to act now, let’s not be surprised when taps stop running one day sooner than we might expect.

Guillaume Baggio is Research Associate, Manzoor Qadir is Assistant Director, and Vladimir Smakhtin is the Director at the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, which is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The Institute marks its 25th anniversary in 2021.

 

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By External Source
Burkina Faso, Jul 28 2021 (IPS-Partners)

In Burkina Faso, Honorine Meda has been trained by the German Development Agency (GIZ) to raise awareness among teenage girls about pregnancy. While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says all children have a right to education, adolescent girls who fall pregnant in Sub Saharan Africa tend to drop out of school. Meda and a group of model parents, also trained by GIZ, play an essential role in preventing teenage pregnancies and supporting learners, who fall pregnant, to get back to school.

Honorine Meda became pregnant herself at the age of nineteen. Now she helps raise awareness of teenage pregnancy among girls in Dissin.

By Guy Dinmore
DISSIN, Burkina Faso, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

Honorine Meda is 23. Cycling through her hometown of Dissin, in Burkina Faso’s verdant southwest, she smiles, waves and stops to chat with one of the girls she counsels.

Thanks to a program by the German development agency (GIZ) and their Pro Enfant initiative, Honorine trained to counsel teenage girls in Dissin on how to avoid pregnancies.

She became pregnant herself, with her now three-year-old son, when she was 19. It was tough, she told IPS.

“I can say it was the hardest at the beginning, that’s when I had the most difficulties. I was ashamed and I spent one year without going to school after I gave birth,” she explains.

After the first year of her son’s life, she was able to return to her studies and now wants to become a midwife. Some 19.3% of pregnancies in Sub Saharan Africa are among adolescents. In Burkina Faso, it is 11%. Many teenagers who fall pregnant in the region, some as young as 13, are less fortunate than Honorine.

Teenage pregnancy often puts an end to the mother’s education, as young mothers switch their focus from school to taking care of the child. This reduces the mother’s earning potential and feeds into a cycle of poverty which means the child is also less likely to attend school and achieve financial stability years later.

Abortion is illegal in normal circumstances in Burkina Faso. It is permissible when rape or incest have occured, or if there is a danger to the health of the mother or severe fetal malformation. This is not well known among women, however, and the legal process for an abortion being approved is long and complicated. If a mother decides to terminate the pregnancy through an illegal abortion, their options for doing so are inherently unsafe.

Girls at a school on the outskirts of Dissin often learn in outdoor classrooms, Dissin.

A teenage girl sits in classroom at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“The lack of awareness [on how to prevent it] is the basis of pregnancy in school,” Honorine explains, sitting on a wooden bench beneath a mango tree. “Each year there are many cases.” That’s why she is proud to be doing work that means others might not suffer the same difficulties as she did.

While advocates like Honorine can play a big role in preventing teenage pregnancies it really involves the whole community, according to Abdoulaye Seogo, a social worker in Dissin who coordinates the GIZ program.

The child protection network in Dissin was trained by GIZ on how to coordinate around teenage motherhood, Dissin.

“With GIZ we organize awareness sessions, primarily for women. It must be said that in Africa, education begins with the mother at home. We also try to reach young boys.” He says he has noticed a fall in the number of teenage pregnancies since the program’s work to increase awareness.

A cluster of specially trained parents also play a part by acting as role models to other parents.

Yeledo Meda is one such model parent. “First there is moral support, we give advice and carry out activities to raise awareness,” he told IPS.

Yeledo Meda is one of the model parents who helps raise awareness of how to prevent teenage pregnancy. He also supports parents whose daughters are pregnant, Dissin.

But no matter how high the level of awareness in a community, it will never eliminate teenage pregnancies entirely.

“Often the parents are discouraged when they first find out their daughter is pregnant… When that happens, you have to moralize so that they understand. We also encourage the mother to return to school,” says Yeledo.

Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is 16. She is seven months pregnant and makes use of many of the elements of the program put in place by GIZ to support pregnant mothers like her.

Sixteen-year-old Mariam Nappon, whose name has been changed, is seven months pregnant. She feels supported by the program GIZ have set up, Dissin.

Nappon says, “[The father] told me to keep the pregnancy, regardless of the problem… If I need anything and he can help me, he does. He also pays for my schooling.”

She says she has never felt any pressure to leave school, either from her family or from teachers. Teachers take special measures to make sure she has the provisions she needs thanks to sensitisation efforts by GIZ. In the past, expectant mothers like Nappon were regularly kicked out of school for becoming pregnant.

A teacher holds class at a coed school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“When I leave school, I want to become a tailor,” she says, “I often go to the child protection network to get advice.”

The child protection network is enlisted by Seogo, the social worker, when girls do become pregnant. The members of the network were also trained by GIZ and bring together community members from the police, education, the health sector, the local orphanage and even the agricultural sector.

Where agriculture is by far the largest sector of the economy, roles expectant mothers are no longer able to play in farming have to be accounted for. They also need to be kept away from certain pesticides that can be harmful to the unborn child.

“If the various parts of the community are isolated from each other, that’s not good for anyone. Take the police, for example… with the network, they know exactly what is happening and can ensure they fulfill their duties,” explains Honzié Meda who runs the network. He says coordination means all elements of the community involved are able to react more quickly and efficiently.

A boy looks at a mural to raise awareness of teenage pregnancy at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

Joseph Tioye, the police officer for the network, agrees.

“We are there whenever we are called upon. Sometimes the boy doesn’t want to recognize the pregnancy and we have to speak to them about the legal implications of that.”

If the father, or his family, do not agree to help support the child, the case can end up in court. Also, when the pregnancy involves a father over 18 and a younger mother, this can cause the police to become involved.

But the emphasis is always on trying to make sure the mother stays in school, says Honzié Meda.

A girl prepares to play football at a school on the outskirts of Dissin.

“We can make sure her case is passed on to social workers, or health care, or for psycho-social care. If it’s needed, the support is there… There are even scholarships provided by GIZ which can be passed onto the mother if needed.”

Seogo explains: “Just this week, a fourteen-year-old girl who is pregnant couldn’t bring herself to tell her family. So, we accompanied her and advised.” The family will be supported by the child protection network throughout the pregnancy and beyond.

In southwest Burkina Faso, even before the GIZ program, the culture within the community was relatively sympathetic and supportive towards girls who become pregnant young, compared to other places in Burkina Faso.

Stigma can still be an issue however, and the mother regularly feels embarrassed. But, unlike in many other parts of the world, the culture in Dissin does not force teenagers to leave their family home if they become pregnant.

Although the GIZ program is making a big impact in Dissin, there is still much work to be done elsewhere. But if the program has proven anything, it’s that it takes a whole village to raise a child – whether a teenager or a newborn.

Another teenage girl who is pregnant walks through fields on the edge of her village, Dissin.

This feature was produced on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

 

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By Paul Teng
SINGAPORE, Jul 28 2021 (IPS)

After almost two decades, Golden Rice was approved last week by the Philippines authorities for use as food. This together with the approval of the bioengineered Bt eggplant represents a landmark victory of science over misinformation; it will provide consumers with improved nutrition (Golden Rice) and safer food (Bt eggplant).

Paul Teng

BIOTECHNOLOGY CROPS have been controversial in spite of overwhelming support for their safety by the scientific community. This is specially so for the class of biotechnology crops commonly called ‘GMO’ or genetically modified organism. The controversy has led to public concerns about their food safety, in spite of the fact that GMOs are only approved after years of intensive testing by independent government agencies, evaluation and approval upon satisfying stringent criteria for safety.

This approval of Golden Rice and the lesser-known Bt eggplant are therefore milestones in the use of biotechnology to meet food security needs through more (nutritious) food with less pesticides. In the 29 countries which currently grow GMO-biotechnology crops in 2019, over 17 million farmers growing about 91 million hectares have been shown to benefit financially and health-wise. So has the environment from the reduced insecticide use. At the same time, worldwide, beyond the 29 growing countries, another 43 countries import GMO-biotechnology crops for food, feed and processing; this includes Singapore.

Golden Rice: Addressing Vitamin A Deficiency

The Philippines has a high incidence of Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) which can lead to blindness and death, particularly among children. Rice is the staple in the Philippines, with many households consuming it two to three times a day.

Almost 20 years ago, an international group tested the development of a rice variety which could provide enhanced levels of Vitamin A and therefore relief for the many malnourished children in developing countries.

This enhanced Beta-carotene rice subsequently came to be called “Golden Rice” because of the yellow hue in the grains. The development and testing of this rice has gone through intensive scrutiny by scientific and regulatory bodies in several countries. Indeed this rice has been tested for safety and environmental concerns more than any other modern rice variety.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over half a million children worldwide are affected by VAD, with disastrous impact. The International Rice Institute (IRRI) estimated that 17% of children under five in the Philippines suffer from VAD, so the Golden Rice has the potential to change the fight against this disease.

Bt Eggplant: Engineered To Reduce Insecticide Use

Eggplant (a.k.a. Aubergine) is one of the most widely consumed fruit vegetables in South and Southeast Asia. However, eggplant is highly susceptible to the fruit borer which severely damages the fruit that is sold through its feeding on the fleshy part of the fruit that is used by humans.

To produce a crop that is cosmetically acceptable to consumers and profitable for farmers, almost all eggplant farmers have resorted to using insecticides. In Bangladesh, eggplant farmers have been known to spray as many as 70 times in a single season to ensure that their crop is saleable! Oftentimes the pest has also become immune to the cocktail of insecticides used.

The alternative technology that was proposed in the early 2000’s was to use biotechnology to give resistance to the fruit borer so that insecticide use could be reduced, farmers could produce a crop and consumers could buy a safer vegetable. Scientists engineered eggplant with a gene from a common soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and were able to show greatly increased resistance to the pest. This same bacterium in its raw form is used by organic farmers for pest control.

The same Bt technology has also been successfully used in crops like maize, soybean and cotton. Indeed Bangladesh became the first country to grow this Bt eggplant in 2014 and since then some 34,000 small farmers have grown over 2,000 hectares in 2019; farmers have been less exposed to dangerous insecticides, and consumers have accepted this safer product.

Other countries have been slow to adopt this technology because of the fear of controversy surrounding GMO-biotechnology crops and opposition by “green groups”. And it is to the credit of Filipino scientists and regulators that they have finally accepted the scientific evidence and shown courage to approve this new eggplant variety, and give consumers a safer vegetable.

Future Biotechnologies

The importance of the approval by the Philippines of Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant cannot be understated. The Philippines was the first Asian country in 2000 to approve a biotech crop, the Bt maize for planting by farmers. And since then the economic benefits to farmers, especially smallholder farmers have exceeded expectations, as studied by credible economists. It has drastically reduced the foreign exchange bill of importing maize to fuel the growing demand for animal feed. The Philippines was even able to export maize in one year.

The doomsayers who predicted environmental disaster from introducing a biotech crop like Bt maize into the environment have been proven wrong as the fears of upsetting biodiversity have not been evidenced.

Neither has any of the concerns about animal and human safety been seen. Indeed the 20 years of biotech maize use around the world has only seen a yearly increase in the uptake by farmers, to the benefit of consumers through a reliable supply of an important animal feed (and human food in some countries).

Moving Forward

The latest report on food insecurity by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2021 (http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/online/cb4474en.html) shows that the Asian continent is still rife with hunger and malnutrition. Many tools are needed to address the food needs in Asia, and the approvals by the Philippines last week augur well for the application of various biotechnologies to meet the challenges of producing more of both traditional food as well as novel food.

Moving forward, the new generation of biotechnology applications to meet the demands of humanity for food, feed and fibre are exemplified by Plant Breeding Innovations such as gene editing. Their impact is just being felt in terms of crops with improved yield, tolerance to pests, diseases and climate change, and improved nutrition and extended shelf life.

Likewise, biotechnology processes have been used in the fast-growing alternative protein industry to produce food like plant-based protein and cellular meat. However, whether these benefits will be realised will depend much on consumer acceptance and government approvals.

At a time when food security worldwide is being threatened by disruptive forces like climate change and pandemics, technology has an important role to play in innovating solutions. Countries like Singapore are capitalising on some of these new technologies, not just to produce more food but also to address the environmental impact of food production. But ultimately, much will depend on a science-literate populace accepting food produced with new technologies.

Paul Teng is Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. He is also Honorary Chair of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotechnology applications (ISAAA), a non-profit hosted by Cornell University.

 

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